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 respondent's land was compulsorily acquired by the Central Government in 1990, and a compensation award granted her solatium (an additional statutory sum for compulsory acquisition) but did not grant interest on that solatium. Years later, in execution proceedings, the Executing Court directed the government to pay interest on the solatium from the date her possession was taken in 1990, and the High Court upheld this. The government appealed, arguing that under existing Supreme Court precedent, interest on solatium could only run from the date of a later landmark judgment (2001), not from the date possession was taken, since the original award and appellate judgment had never actually granted such interest.
The Supreme Court examined the original 1990 award and the subsequent High Court appellate judgment and found that neither had, in fact, granted interest on solatium, only solatium itself and other statutory benefits were awarded. Applying the binding principle from its earlier ruling in Gurpreet Singh v. Union of India, the Court held that since the claim for interest on solatium was never addressed or granted in the original decree, the execution court could not read it in from the possession-taking date; it could only be granted from 19 September 2001, the date of the Sunder v. Union of India judgment. The Court distinguished a separate case relied upon by the respondent, finding it dealt with a different, already-settled batch of claims. It therefore allowed the appeal and set aside the orders directing interest from the 1990 possession date.
In land acquisition cases, interest on solatium can only be claimed from the date of the Sunder judgment (2001) unless the original compensation award or decree itself specifically granted such interest: an execution court cannot add fresh relief that was never part of the original decree.
