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.
During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Anganwadi Centres across India, which provide supplementary nutrition to pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under six under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme and the National Food Security Act, 2013, were shut down. The petitioner filed a PIL under Article 32 seeking directions to reopen all Anganwadi Centres, resume hot cooked meals and take-home rations as mandated by law, and ensure growth monitoring of children affected by the disruption.
The Court reviewed responses from the Union and several States/Union Territories, finding wide variation in how nutrition support was being delivered during the shutdown (some states substituted inadequate or non-compliant alternatives, such as a Gujarat sweet product, instead of providing nutritionally prescribed rations). It held that it is the State's constitutional obligation (Article 47 and prior directions of the Court in the PUCL right-to-food litigation) to ensure children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers actually receive nutritional support, not merely that schemes exist on paper. The Court directed that Anganwadi Centres located outside COVID containment zones be reopened by 31 January 2021 unless the State Disaster Management Authority specifically decided otherwise, that centres within containment zones remain closed only while the containment continues, that all states meet the nutritional standards prescribed in Schedule II of the National Food Security Act, and that a complaint redressal and supervision mechanism be established in every district.
Welfare entitlements like child and maternal nutrition are treated by the courts as enforceable rights flowing from the Constitution and statute, not mere policy choices, even during an emergency like a pandemic, the State cannot indefinitely suspend statutory nutrition guarantees without a reasoned, area-specific justification.
