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.
Land in Delhi was notified for acquisition under the old Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in November 1980 and the award was passed in June 1987. Manpreet Singh, who was not the recorded owner at the time of the award, claimed rights in the land through an assignment deed of 2015 (with his counsel accepting he acquired the interest around 2018), i.e. after the 2013 Act came into force. He filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court, which in January 2018 declared that the acquisition was deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act. The DDA (the beneficiary of the acquisition) and the Delhi Government (the acquiring body) appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Court framed the only question as whether a subsequent purchaser has standing ("locus") to challenge the acquisition or claim that it has lapsed. It held that this is settled by the three-judge decision in Shiv Kumar vs Union of India (2019), which disapproved the earlier contrary view in Manav Dharam Trust (2017), and which has since been followed in DDA vs Godfrey Phillips and Delhi Administration vs Pawan Kumar: a subsequent purchaser has no locus to challenge the acquisition proceedings or seek a declaration of lapse under the 2013 Act. The respondent's plea that Shiv Kumar needed reconsideration was not accepted. Because the writ petitioner was admittedly a subsequent purchaser, the High Court had seriously erred in entertaining his petition at all. Both appeals were allowed, the High Court's judgment was set aside and the original writ petition was dismissed, with no order as to costs.
Buying land after it has already been acquired by the government does not give the buyer a right to challenge the acquisition or claim it has lapsed; only the owner at the time of acquisition can raise such objections. Purchasers should check acquisition status before buying, since a subsequent purchase confers no standing to undo the acquisition.
