Real judgements, distilled
Court judgements broken down into the case type, how the decision played out, and the lesson worth remembering, with the full judgement available as a PDF.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1073
In circumstantial-evidence cases, forensic and DNA evidence must actually corroborate the alleged crime: a conviction cannot survive where the most crucial scientific evidence, on its own terms, points away from rather than toward the prosecution's theory.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1074
A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires every link in the chain, timeline, witness credibility, forensic matches, and motive, to be proven beyond reasonable doubt; gaps or suppressed evidence at any link entitle the accused to the benefit of the doubt, even in a serious case like a double murder.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8505
Courts will not quash a criminal case merely because the accused has a plausible alibi-type defence; unless that defence is conclusive and undisputed, the matter must be tested through the ordinary trial process.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8547
A private compromise between victim and accused cannot by itself secure quashing of a case involving serious, heinous allegations like attempted murder with a weapon: such matters must proceed to trial regardless of settlement.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8563
Railway Claims Tribunals cannot reject a bona fide passenger's death claim based on speculative inferences when there is no direct evidence of an alternative cause of death; the compensation scheme under the Railways Act is to be interpreted generously in favour of victims' families.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8559
In matrimonial offences, courts can and do quash criminal proceedings once a genuine compromise is verified directly with the complainant, sparing both parties a prolonged and pointless trial.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8541
A co-accused's bail does not automatically extend to another accused where their actual roles in the offence differ materially; delay caused by one's own defence counsel cannot later be used as a ground for bail.
Execution Petition · 2026:DHC:8567
An arbitral award must be adequately stamped before a court can enforce it; courts give only a limited window to cure such defects, after which the award becomes legally unusable until the deficiency is fixed.
Arbitration Petition · 2026:DHC:8555
A genuine settlement reached through mediation renders a pending arbitration-related court petition moot, allowing parties to close out litigation quickly once they resolve their dispute privately.
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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.
Members of one family (the appellants) had agreed in 1991 to buy a Chennai property from the respondents, with the sale to be completed within four months. The deal was repeatedly delayed because the Income Tax Department tried to compulsorily acquire the property, leading to writ litigation that continued for years; the parties signed fresh memoranda of understanding in 1994 reaffirming the sale on the same terms. After the writ petitions were finally decided in the buyers' favour in 1998, the buyers did not immediately pay the balance price or sue, and only filed suits for specific performance between October-December 2000, prompting the sellers to argue the buyers were no longer "ready and willing" to perform.
A trial court had decreed specific performance in the buyers' favour, but the Madras High Court's Division Bench reversed this, holding the buyers were not ready and willing because they delayed paying the balance consideration and filing suit after the writ petitions ended. The Supreme Court restored the trial court's decree, holding that the contract clause only required payment "at the time of registration of the sale deeds," not immediately upon disposal of the writ petitions, so the High Court had misread the agreement. It also held that mere delay or rise in property prices cannot by itself defeat a claim for specific performance when the buyers had already paid roughly 90% of the price and were partly in possession, and the pendency of a further writ appeal justified the buyers' caution.
In property sale-agreement disputes, courts look at the actual wording of payment obligations rather than assuming time is automatically "of the essence," and genuine delay caused by ongoing litigation or ambiguous contract terms will not automatically disqualify a buyer from obtaining specific performance.
