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 appellants' family land in Bangalore was taken over by the Union government back in the 1960s under emergency defence laws, and later kept under a requisitioning law that was supposed to be temporary. Over the decades, arbitrators repeatedly fixed and re-fixed the rent-like compensation owed for the land, and courts twice found that large parts of the land had never actually been validly "acquired" (i.e., permanently taken) by the government. Even though the legal requisition period expired in 1987, the Union never gave the land back, arguing it was now surrounded by defence facilities. The Karnataka High Court agreed the family owned the land but still refused to order its return, leaving the question open indefinitely.
The Supreme Court held that requisition of private property is inherently temporary and can never be allowed to continue indefinitely, as that would amount to an unlawful expropriation by the back door. Since the Union's own courts and arbitration proceedings had already conclusively found the land was never validly acquired, and the requisition period had legally ended in 1987, the Union's continued occupation for the following 33 years was unlawful. The Court relied on precedent (Grahak Sanstha Manch, Rajendra Kumar Gupta) establishing that prolonged requisition without acquisition violates the constitutional right to property under Article 300-A. It directed the Union to hand back possession of the land within three months, while leaving the family free to separately claim updated compensation for the more recent years through arbitration.
The government cannot hold onto private land forever simply by invoking an old "requisition" order: if it genuinely needs land permanently, it must formally and lawfully acquire it and pay compensation, and citizens can approach courts to reclaim land unlawfully retained even decades after a requisition period has technically expired.
