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.
Bank of Baroda's London branch honoured a letter of credit issued on behalf of Vysya Bank (predecessor of Kotak Mahindra Bank) and, after Vysya Bank failed to reimburse it, sued and obtained a money decree against Vysya Bank from a London court in 1995. Years later, Bank of Baroda sought to execute this foreign decree in India under Section 44A of the Civil Procedure Code, which allows decrees of "reciprocating countries" to be executed as if passed by an Indian court. The question was when the limitation period for filing such an execution petition actually begins to run.
The Supreme Court held that ordinarily, limitation for executing a foreign decree of a reciprocating country runs from the date the decree was passed by the foreign court. However, it carved out an exception: if the decree-holder first takes genuine steps to execute the decree in the country where it was passed (the "cause country") and the decree remains unsatisfied, a fresh three-year limitation period (under Article 137 of the Limitation Act) begins only once those foreign execution proceedings conclude. Applying this framework to the facts, the Court found the appellant's execution petition in India was time-barred and dismissed the appeal, upholding the lower courts' orders though for different reasons.
A decree-holder wanting to enforce a foreign money decree in India must act within three years of the foreign decree being passed, unless they can show they first genuinely pursued execution in the foreign country itself: in which case the Indian limitation clock only starts once that foreign process is finally concluded.
