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.
Punjab National Bank advertised Peon posts requiring candidates to have passed only up to 12th standard, expressly stating graduates were not eligible. The respondent, though already a graduate since 2014, applied without disclosing this and was provisionally selected and issued an appointment order. During document verification the Bank discovered he was a graduate, found he had suppressed this fact, and cancelled his candidature. He challenged the cancellation in the High Court, which (relying on an Allahabad High Court decision) ruled that a candidate cannot be denied a post merely for holding a higher qualification, and directed the Bank to let him join; a Division Bench upheld this in an unreasoned order.
The Supreme Court held that prescribing "graduates not eligible" for a Peon post was a conscious, considered policy decision taken by the Bank's HR Division since 2008, and that courts should not second-guess an employer's rational recruitment criteria for a given post unless it is shown to be arbitrary. It distinguished the precedent relied on below, noting that case did not lay down a universal rule, and that absent a specific statutory provision equating higher and lower qualifications, a higher qualification cannot be presumed to satisfy a different prescribed qualification. Separately, the Court held that the respondent's deliberate, wilful suppression of his graduate status in his application and bio-data was itself an independent ground justifying cancellation of his candidature. It set aside both High Court orders and allowed the Bank's appeal, though it declined to impose costs given the low-level nature of the post.
Employers, including public sector banks, are entitled to set maximum-qualification caps for certain posts, and courts will generally not interfere with such bona fide policy choices; separately, concealing a material fact (like an excluded qualification) in a job application can validly disqualify a candidate even after provisional selection or appointment.
