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.
9257 more judgements for members
You're seeing the newest cases. Log in — it's free — to keep scrolling, search by name or judge, and filter by court or legal area.
Log in to see moreLegal Case Shots is built to help you quickly identify and understand relevant precedent. For citation in pleadings or filings, always verify against the full judgment PDF and current citation format (e.g., 2026 INSC ___).
The holding is what the court legally decided. The lesson learnt translates that into a practical takeaway: what a lawyer should factor into case strategy or client advice as a result of this precedent.
Both. Each case shows a distilled summary (case type, key holding, and lesson learnt) and links to the full judgment as a PDF for when you need the complete text for research or citation.
Yes. Use Advanced Filters to narrow results by decision date and by practice area, including Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Service & Administrative Law, Family Law, Civil Property & Inheritance, and Labour & Industrial Law.
Yes. You can filter judgments by the judge or bench that decided the case, which is useful for tracking how a particular judge has reasoned on similar issues across multiple rulings.
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.
Kulwant Singh bought a life insurance policy in August 2014 naming his mother, Dalbir Kaur, as nominee, but died just over a month later. The insurer's investigation found he had concealed a pre-existing serious ailment (linked to alcohol abuse, with a recent hospitalisation for vomiting blood) when answering the health-disclosure questions in the proposal form, and it repudiated the claim on that basis. The District Forum, State Commission, and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) all ruled against the insurer, holding the death was from natural causes unconnected to the undisclosed ailment, and the NCDRC also imposed Rs. 2 lakh in costs.
The Supreme Court held that life insurance contracts are governed by the principle of utmost good faith, requiring full disclosure of material facts affecting the insurer's risk assessment. It found the NCDRC had wrongly relied on an earlier, distinguishable precedent (Sulbha Prakash Motegaonkar) involving an unrelated and non-life-threatening ailment, whereas here the concealed ailment and recent hospitalisation were directly material to the insurer's decision to issue the policy. Applying its precedents (Asha Goel, Satwant Kaur Sandhu, Rekhaben Nareshbhai Rathod), the Court set aside the NCDRC's ruling and held the repudiation was justified. However, since the insurer had already paid the claim amount during the litigation and the 70-year-old nominee was likely dependent on the deceased, the Court used its Article 142 powers to direct that no recovery be made from her, while still clarifying the legal position in the insurer's favour.
Proposers for life insurance must truthfully disclose all known pre-existing health conditions: concealment of a material fact, even if the eventual cause of death appears unrelated, can be a valid ground for the insurer to repudiate the claim.
