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.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreAfter the appellant's son died from injuries allegedly inflicted by relatives of a young woman, Tanu, with whom he was suspected of having a relationship, that same day Tanu herself died by suicide (found to be hanging, per the post-mortem). Tanu's cousin then filed an FIR accusing the appellant (the deceased boy's family) of abetting Tanu's suicide under Section 306 IPC, alleging they had humiliated and threatened her hours before her death. The Allahabad High Court declined to quash the criminal proceedings against the appellants, and they appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court found the investigation deeply one-sided: the FIR was delayed by over a day after the death, was based only on statements from the complainant's own family that merely echoed the FIR's wording, and no alternative angle was ever investigated despite troubling irregularities in the timeline. Applying settled law that Section 306 IPC requires proof of specific, direct instigation leaving the victim "no other alternative" but suicide, the Court held none of these ingredients were made out even taking the allegations at face value, and quashed the criminal proceedings as a gross abuse of process. However, given the disturbing and unexplained circumstances of Tanu's death, the Court simultaneously ordered a fresh, independent reinvestigation by a Special Investigation Team, to be reported back to the Court in two months.
A criminal charge of abetting suicide cannot survive on vague, one-sided allegations of harsh words alone. The law requires clear proof of intentional instigation that left the victim no alternative, and courts will quash prosecutions built on shoddy, unidirectional investigations even while ordering that the underlying death still be properly investigated.
