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 petitioner, a home-loan borrower, filed a writ petition under Article 32 challenging the RBI's March 2020 COVID-19 moratorium notification to the extent it allowed interest to keep accruing on loans during the three-month (later extended to six-month) moratorium period, arguing this defeated the relief's purpose and violated his right to life under Article 21. Over the course of the hearing, the Union of India and RBI filed several affidavits detailing relief measures taken, culminating in an October 2020 Government of India scheme approved by the Union Cabinet to pay, as an ex-gratia amount, the difference between compound and simple interest for the moratorium period (1 March to 31 August 2020), for several categories of loans, including housing loans, up to Rs. 2 crore.
The Court noted that the petitioner's own senior counsel expressed satisfaction with the government's October 2020 scheme, since it covered housing loans like the petitioner's. Given the scheme had already been approved by the Union Cabinet and operational guidelines issued, with ex-gratia payments reportedly already being disbursed to crores of borrower accounts, the Court held it unnecessary to go further and declare the original notification itself ultra vires. It disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the respondents to ensure the October 2020 scheme is actually implemented so that its intended beneficiaries receive the promised relief.
The Court did not strike down interest charges during the loan moratorium outright; instead, borrowers affected by the COVID-19 moratorium (for loans up to Rs. 2 crore in specified categories like housing, education, and MSME loans) were directed to receive relief through the government's specific "interest-on-interest" waiver scheme, so affected borrowers should check their eligibility under that scheme rather than assume moratorium interest was cancelled altogether.
