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.
To encourage industrial investment in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the Central Government announced a package in 2003 giving new manufacturing units a 100% excise duty exemption for ten years. Bajaj Auto set up a unit availing this exemption, but the tax authorities still demanded National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD), Education Cess, and Secondary & Higher Education Cess on the ground that these were not excise duty and so fell outside the exemption notification.
The Supreme Court relied on its earlier ruling in SRD Nutrients Pvt. Ltd., which held that such cesses, being surcharges calculated on and taking the character of excise duty, could not survive once the underlying excise duty itself was exempted. The Court held that NCCD, despite being levied on the product rather than on the value of excise duty, remains in the nature of excise duty, and therefore an exemption from "the whole of the duty of excise" necessarily covers NCCD as well as the two education cesses. It quashed the show cause notice and held Bajaj Auto was not liable to pay these amounts, allowing the appeal.
When the government grants a tax exemption described broadly (such as "the whole of the duty of excise"), related surcharges and cesses that are legally characterized as that same duty cannot be carved out and charged separately: a business is entitled to rely on the full scope of the exemption as worded.
