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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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.
DLF Ltd. and a Croatian company, Koncar Generators and Motors Ltd., had a contract for design and supply of generators that went to international arbitration in Paris, resulting in a 2004 award of roughly Euros 10.9 lakh plus interest in Koncar's favour. While DLF's objections to the award were pending in Indian courts, DLF deposited amounts (Rs. 7.5 crore in 2010 and Rs. 50 lakh in 2011) with the court, and a dispute arose over which date's euro-to-rupee exchange rate should be used to convert the foreign-currency award into Indian rupees for enforcement.
The Supreme Court held that under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, a foreign award becomes enforceable, and its currency should be converted, on the date the objections against it are finally decided, following the principle in Forasol v. ONGC. However, where the award-debtor deposits money in court during the pendency of objections and the award-holder is permitted to withdraw it, that deposited portion must instead be converted at the exchange rate prevailing on the date of deposit (per Renusagar Power Co. v. General Electric), since the award-holder could have accessed and benefited from it then. Applying this, the Court held the first deposit (Rs. 7.5 crore, withdrawable in 2010) converts at the 2010 rate, while the second deposit (not withdrawable until proceedings concluded) and the remaining award amount convert at the rate prevailing when the objections finally attained finality in 2014.
When a foreign-currency arbitral award is being enforced in India, the exchange rate used to convert it into rupees is not fixed at a single point: money the paying party actually makes available for withdrawal is converted at that deposit date, while any remaining award amount is converted only once the legal challenges to the award are finally resolved.
