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.
A buyer (plaintiff) entered into a 2006 agreement to purchase a Mangalore property for Rs. 30 lakhs, paying Rs. 26,000 as earnest money, with the sale to be completed once the seller settled a pending family property dispute. When the sale did not go through, the buyer sued for specific performance, also claiming, only in a later additional affidavit, not in the original plaint or legal notice, that he had separately paid the seller a further Rs. 6,75,000 in cash. The trial court decreed specific performance in the buyer's favour, but the High Court reversed that, holding the buyer had failed to prove he was ready and willing to perform the contract, while still ordering the seller to refund Rs. 7,01,000 based on a presumption that the extra cash payment had occurred.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court was correct in refusing specific performance, since the buyer's own conduct, never making the claim of the extra Rs. 6,75,000 cash payment in his plaint or in his pre-suit legal notice, and introducing it only later without any proof of date or manner of payment, showed he had not been ready and willing to perform his obligations under the contract. However, the Court found the High Court had erred in ordering a refund of Rs. 7,01,000 based merely on speculation (that title documents being handed over suggested an unproven cash payment), when there was no credible evidence for that payment at all. The Court dismissed the buyer's appeal for specific performance, allowed the seller's appeal against the Rs. 7,01,000 refund order, and directed the seller to repay only the proven and admitted sum of Rs. 26,000 (the actual earnest money paid by cheque) with 9% interest, to settle equities between the parties.
A claim of having paid money under a contract must be consistently and credibly pleaded from the very start, introducing a significant payment claim for the first time only in a later affidavit, without any supporting evidence of date or mode of payment, will not be believed by courts, and relief cannot be granted on mere presumption or guesswork.
