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 moreIn a 1995 altercation over cattle straying into a field, the appellant Devi Singh and a co-accused (who later died during the appeal's pendency) were alleged to have attacked people with lathis (sticks), injuring one victim and fatally injuring another (Chunni Lal, whose dying declaration was recorded as a diary statement). The trial court convicted Devi Singh under IPC Sections 326 (grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt with a weapon), and the High Court upheld both convictions while reducing only the Section 326 sentence from three to two years.
The Supreme Court upheld the conviction under both sections, finding it properly based on the eyewitness evidence of an injured witness, the deceased's diary statement (corroborated by medical evidence), and the post-mortem findings. The Court noted in passing that the Section 324 conviction might arguably not have been entirely proper given the injuries contributed to the death, but declined to revisit this since the State had not appealed on that point. Given that 23 years had passed since the 1995 incident, the Court exercised its discretion to reduce the Section 324 sentence from three years to two years (matching the already-reduced Section 326 sentence), affirming the convictions but allowing the appeal partly on sentence, with the appellant directed to surrender within four weeks.
Even where a conviction for a crime is upheld, the passage of a very long time between the offence and final appellate disposal (here, over two decades) can by itself be a valid ground for the Supreme Court to moderate the length of the sentence, without disturbing the underlying finding of guilt.
