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.
CLP India (a power generating company, formerly Gujarat Torrent Energy) had a long-term power purchase agreement with the Gujarat electricity utility (Gujarat Urja). A dispute arose over two issues: whether CLP was wrongly paid a "generation incentive" after a 1995 government notification withdrew that incentive for naphtha-based plants, and whether CLP was separately owed extra interest on a sum treated as a "deemed loan" under a later supplementary agreement. Both the state electricity regulator (GERC) and the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity had ruled mostly against CLP, limiting any refund recovery and rejecting the extra interest claim, and both sides cross-appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the 1995 notification validly and statutorily reduced the incentive payable to CLP's plant (since it could use naphtha as fuel, even if not exclusively), and that any contrary clause in the power purchase agreement had to give way to the binding statutory notification. On recovery, the Court agreed the refund claim was time-barred beyond three years before Gujarat Urja's recovery petition, since routine correspondence between the parties does not extend a limitation period. On the interest claim, the Court held the parties' 2003 supplementary agreement fixed the exact period for which interest on the deemed loan was payable, with no basis to claim interest for any earlier period. Both appeals were dismissed.
A statutory notification governing price/tariff terms overrides any conflicting term in a private contract between a generator and distributor, and parties cannot keep a stale monetary claim alive simply by continuing to exchange letters about it: clear, timely action is needed to stop a limitation period from running.
