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.
A financial creditor (an asset reconstruction company that had taken over a bank loan) sought to start insolvency proceedings against a company, Veer Gurjar Aluminium Industries, for defaulting on its loan. The company's director challenged this, arguing the creditor's application was filed too late, well beyond the three-year limitation period counted from when the loan account was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) years earlier. Both the National Company Law Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal had allowed the insolvency case to proceed, rejecting the limitation argument.
The Supreme Court held that applications to start insolvency proceedings under Section 7 of the IBC are governed by a three-year limitation period running from the date of default (treated as the date the account was declared NPA), and that merely because a debt is acknowledged in a company's balance sheets or other circumstances does not automatically extend that period unless they independently qualify as a valid "acknowledgment of debt" that restarts the clock. On the facts, the Court found the application was indeed filed beyond the limitation period and was therefore not maintainable. It set aside the orders of both tribunals and rejected the insolvency application, while clarifying that other independent legal proceedings against the company (which had been frozen due to the moratorium) could now resume.
Creditors must act within the three-year limitation period to file for insolvency proceedings; the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is a recovery mechanism for live claims, not a tool to revive debts that have already gone time-barred.
