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.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe appellant, Dasin Bai, was convicted of murder for pouring kerosene on the deceased, Raju Rajak, while he slept at her house and setting him on fire; he died two days later in hospital. Both the Trial Court and the Chhattisgarh High Court had convicted her and sentenced her to life imprisonment based largely on an oral dying declaration he made to neighbours who rushed to help, naming her as the person who set him alight. She appealed to the Supreme Court from jail, arguing the dying declaration was unreliable given the severity of his burns and that the witnesses were not independent.
The Supreme Court held that a truthful and consistent dying declaration can, by itself, sustain a conviction without any further corroboration, relying on its own precedents (Ravi v. State of T.N., Mafabhai Nagarbhai Raval, Pothakamuri Srinivasulu). It found the two eyewitnesses' accounts of the deceased's dying declaration were consistent and that the appellant's 70% burn injuries did not make it impossible for him to speak, since no doctor had testified otherwise. The Court also invoked Section 106 of the Evidence Act, since the facts of how the deceased came to be burnt inside her own house were especially within the accused's knowledge, her failure to offer any explanation (she even claimed not to know the victim's name) strengthened the case against her. Finding no infirmity in the lower courts' reasoning, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the conviction and life sentence.
A dying person's statement naming their attacker, if consistent and credible, can be enough on its own to convict: it does not need other supporting evidence; and an accused who stays silent about facts only they could know (such as what happened inside their own home) risks that silence being held against them.
