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.
Pepsi Foods had an adverse tax assessment order, appealed to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), and obtained a stay of recovery that was repeatedly extended. The third proviso to Section 254(2A) of the Income Tax Act capped any such stay at 365 days, with no extension possible beyond that even if the delay in deciding the appeal was not the assessee's fault. Fearing coercive tax recovery once the 365-day cap expired, Pepsi Foods challenged the provision's constitutionality before the Delhi High Court, which struck down the "no extension beyond 365 days" rule as arbitrary where the assessee was not responsible for the delay; the tax department appealed this (and similar rulings from other High Courts in parallel cases) to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the provision irrationally treated assessees who caused delay in their own appeals the same as assessees who were not responsible for any delay, violating Article 14's guarantee against treating unequals equally. It rejected the Revenue's argument that courts must defer to legislative discretion in tax matters, holding that a taxing statute can still be struck down under Article 14 if it produces clear, unjustified inequality. The Court upheld the Delhi High Court's approach and effectively read down the provision so that a stay automatically lapses after 365 days only if the delay in deciding the appeal is attributable to the assessee itself, otherwise the Tribunal can continue the stay, and dismissed the Revenue's appeals.
A law that applies the same harsh consequence (such as automatic loss of a stay/protection) to people who caused a delay and people who did not is constitutionally vulnerable for treating unequals equally, even in the field of taxation where courts otherwise give legislatures wide latitude.
