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.
A construction company had contracted with the Punjab government in 1985 to build part of the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal. During the work, the scope expanded considerably due to unexpected soil conditions and design changes, and the company claimed extra payment. An arbitrator awarded the company a lump sum for several claims, including a large premium of 93.12% on "extra items," but gave essentially no reasoning for how that figure was reached. Lower courts and then the Punjab & Haryana High Court struck down most of these extra-item awards because the arbitration agreement required reasoned awards and this one wasn't. The company appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court agreed that the Arbitrator's unreasoned conclusion of a 93.12% premium, calculated by simply comparing the estimated project cost to the actual contract price, could not stand, since the contract specifically required the Arbitrator to give reasons for awards over Rs. 1 lakh. Normally, such a defective award would be sent back to the Arbitrator to be redone from scratch. However, given that more than two decades had already passed since the 1994 arbitration, the Court chose instead to resolve the matter itself: it found a more defensible premium figure (35.02%) supported by an actual departmental letter in the record, and directed that the company's claims for extra work be recalculated and paid at that rate, with interest, within six weeks.
An arbitrator who is contractually required to give reasons for an award cannot simply state a bare number or conclusion, doing so risks the award being struck down; and where a defective award has dragged on for decades, courts may step in to finally fix a fair figure themselves rather than send the dispute back for yet another round of arbitration.
