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 1066
Courts will not infer a concluded oral contract for the sale of immovable property just because the other side's witnesses seemed evasive: the party seeking specific performance must independently and affirmatively prove every essential term was genuinely agreed.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1065
Even in serious, high-value corruption cases, prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be used as a substitute for punishment when the trial is unlikely to conclude soon and the evidence is already secured: bail remains the touchstone principle under Article 21's personal liberty protection.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1067
Preventive detention cannot be used as a backdoor way to keep someone in custody once the ordinary criminal process, including bail, has already run its course on the same facts; the detaining authority must show a genuine, independent risk of future harm, not just recycle the criminal case file.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1068
In land acquisition disputes, courts will readily restore a uniform, fair market rate across similarly-situated parcels, but ancillary compensation heads (like moveable equipment such as tubewells) still require the claimant to prove their case with admissible evidence, not private reports whose authors were never examined in court.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8447
If you are injured while genuinely trying to board or exit a train, you are very likely covered under railway "untoward incident" compensation law, even if you technically hadn't fully boarded yet: courts read this protection broadly in favour of passengers, and contemporaneous official records (station logs, police diary entries) carry more weight than a statement taken from you much later.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8404
Courts will not entertain vague, unsubstantiated allegations of judicial bias, and a request to combine cases becomes moot once the other related proceedings have already concluded: genuine grievances about trial delay or procedure must be backed by specific, demonstrable facts, not just repeated litigation.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8403
Anticipatory bail can be granted even in matrimonial cases involving serious sexual-offence allegations where there is unexplained delay in reporting, no evidence substantiating the need for custodial interrogation, and the investigating agency's own conduct (e.g., undocumented "verbal" notices) fails to justify arrest, though this is assessed only for bail purposes, not as a finding on guilt.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8407
In family property disputes, signing a Relinquishment Deed acknowledging receipt of consideration, and then waiting years without challenging it or pursuing your claimed share, will make it very difficult to later prove you were never actually paid; courts expect contemporaneous action (a legal notice, a suit) and corroborating evidence, not delayed assertions alone.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8401
A tenant who claims to have paid a large sum toward an informal "mortgage" or side arrangement must be able to prove it with solid evidence (receipts, corroborating witnesses): bare assertions, especially when contradicted by one's own family members under cross-examination, will not defeat a landlord's claim for rent and possession.
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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.
DDA had acquired the respondent's land in 1989-92 for a public purpose and took possession in 2006; the land was later used by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for a car depot. In 2015, the landowner filed a writ petition arguing that under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law, the acquisition should be deemed to have lapsed because compensation had never been paid, relying on the Supreme Court's then-prevailing Pune Municipal Corporation judgment. The Delhi High Court agreed in 2016 and ordered DDA to pay fresh compensation under the 2013 Act. Before DDA's appeal could be heard, a Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal (2020) expressly overruled Pune Municipal Corporation, holding that both non-payment of compensation and non-possession are required together for a lapse, either alone is not enough.
The Supreme Court first addressed DDA's over three-year delay in filing the appeal, condoning it because the disputed land had genuinely been put to important public use (a metro depot) and a liberal, justice-oriented approach to delay was warranted in such circumstances. On the merits, applying Indore Development Authority, since it was undisputed that DDA had already taken possession of the land in 2006, Section 24(2) simply did not apply merely because compensation remained unpaid, so there was no lapse of acquisition. The High Court's judgment was set aside and the landowner's writ petition was dismissed, though DDA was directed to pay the compensation originally determined under the 1894 Act (if not already paid) and was saddled with Rs. 50,000 in costs for its conduct. The Court separately flagged, from photographs on record, that part of the pavement on the acquired land had been encroached upon by vendors and directed the authorities to take action.
Under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law, an acquisition lapses only if BOTH possession was not taken AND compensation was not paid: non-payment of compensation alone, where possession has already been taken, is not enough to revive an old acquisition.
