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.
The husband had obtained a divorce from his wife on the ground that she had deserted him, and years later she filed a petition claiming maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The husband argued that since Section 125(4) denies maintenance to a wife who "without sufficient reason" refuses to live with her husband, and since his divorce was granted precisely because she had deserted him, she should be barred from claiming maintenance. Courts below had ruled in the wife's favour and awarded her Rs. 10,000 per month based on the husband's substantial income.
The Supreme Court held that Section 125(4), which disqualifies a wife who refuses to live with her husband without sufficient reason, simply does not apply to a woman who has already been divorced, because there is no marital relationship left under which she could be expected to "live with" her husband: the provision only makes sense for a subsisting marriage. The Court relied on its own settled precedent (including a three-judge bench decision it was bound by) holding that a divorced woman has an independent right to maintenance once divorced, regardless of the ground on which the divorce was granted, so a husband cannot divorce his wife for desertion and then use that very divorce to deny her maintenance. On the facts, the Court also rejected the husband's argument that the wife's long delay in claiming maintenance, or her professional qualification as an architect, disqualified her, noting the husband had provided no evidence of her actual income while his own substantial income was on record. The appeals were dismissed.
A divorced wife's right to maintenance under Section 125 CrPC survives independently of why the divorce was granted: a husband cannot rely on a desertion-based divorce decree to argue his ex-wife is disqualified from receiving maintenance, and simply holding a professional degree is not proof of sufficient income without actual evidence.
