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.
The petitioners were Constables/Head Constables who took the UP Police "Sub-Inspector (Civil Police) Ranker's Examination 2000-2008" but were never given their marks, because they had failed to secure the minimum 50% required in each of the three objective-type subjects, which under the selection scheme meant their Hindi Essay papers were never even evaluated. They claimed they were entitled to the same relief as successful litigants in an earlier case (Raghuraj Singh), where the Court had directed that qualified candidates be accommodated against existing vacancies.
The Supreme Court held that the petitioners were not similarly placed to the petitioners in Raghuraj Singh, because those petitioners had actually qualified in the selection process, whereas the present petitioners had failed to clear the mandatory 50% threshold in the objective-type subjects and were therefore correctly excluded before their Hindi Essay papers were ever assessed. The Court also rejected the argument that two subjects clubbed into one examination paper should be treated as a single subject for the 50% calculation, noting candidates were informed in advance that the two would be assessed separately. The writ petitions were accordingly dismissed, with the Court also noting a prior order declining to reopen a selection process conducted over a decade earlier.
Relief granted to similarly situated litigants in an earlier case extends only to those who are, in fact, similarly placed on the merits; failing to clear a mandatory qualifying threshold in a competitive examination generally forecloses a claim to the same benefit given to candidates who did qualify.
