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 moreThe appellants were convicted of gang rape under Section 376(2)(g) IPC by a Sessions Court in Odisha in 1992, and the conviction was upheld by the Orissa High Court in 2017. The prosecution's case was that the victim was abducted near a weekly market in the evening, threatened with a knife, and raped, after which she reported the incident to her husband and police the next day.
The Supreme Court found the victim's testimony riddled with inconsistencies: she could not identify the accused's faces, there was no medical evidence of recent forcible intercourse, no injuries apart from a minor cheek bruise, and her husband's testimony directly contradicted her account of what she told him. The alleged crime scene was close to a busy market and main road on a market day, undermining claims of a secluded assault, and the police never recovered the napkin or knife said to have been used. The Court held the prosecution's story appeared concocted and possibly motivated by revenge after the appellants had exposed the complainant's theft of forest produce, concluding the offence of rape was not proved beyond reasonable doubt, though hurt may have occurred. The appeal was allowed, the conviction set aside, and the appellants acquitted and ordered released.
A rape conviction cannot stand on a victim's testimony alone when that testimony is internally inconsistent, contradicted by corroborating witnesses, and unsupported by medical or physical evidence: courts must scrutinise the full evidentiary record rather than defer automatically to the complainant's account.
