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.
Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) imported plant and equipment from two foreign consortia for modernising its Durgapur plant, under contracts that also separately priced basic design/engineering fees, "as-built" drawings, and foreign supervision charges for erection and commissioning in India. Customs authorities added these design, drawing, and supervision charges to the invoice value of the imported equipment, treating the whole arrangement as a "turnkey" package where one part was a "condition" for the other. SAIL's appeals succeeded before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), which held these charges related to post-importation activity and should not be added to the customs value; the Revenue appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the Tribunal, holding that merely because a contract has the broad shape of a "turnkey" project does not automatically mean every component is a "condition of sale" of the imported goods under Rule 9(1)(e) of the Customs Valuation Rules, 1988. Following its earlier rulings in Essar Steel and Tata Iron & Steel, the Court held that charges for design, drawings, and supervision that relate to post-importation activities (like erection, commissioning, and project implementation in India) are excluded from the assessable value unless there is specific material showing the supply of equipment was genuinely conditional on also buying those post-import services from the same supplier. Since the Revenue had not shown such a condition, SAIL could have used the designs and supervision from any source, the extra charges could not be added to the customs value, and the appeal was dismissed.
When goods are imported along with separately priced services for installation or commissioning, customs duty can only be charged on the price of the goods themselves unless the authorities can specifically show that buying those extra services was a genuine precondition for the sale of the goods: a contract merely looking like a "turnkey" package is not, by itself, enough.
