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.
Following its earlier judgment dated 30 June 2021 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 539 of 2021, the Supreme Court had directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia compensation to families of persons who died of Covid-19, and directed the government to simplify the process for issuing official "death due to Covid-19" certificates. This Miscellaneous Application (No. 1120 of 2021) was filed to monitor and secure compliance with those directions, since the government had not yet finalised either the compensation amount or the death-certification guidelines.
The Court recorded that the NDMA had, in the interim, issued guidelines dated 11 September 2021 recommending Rs. 50,000 as ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of each Covid-19 deceased, funded through the State Disaster Response Fund and disbursed by District Disaster Management Authorities. The Court finally approved and made binding this Rs. 50,000 ex-gratia amount, and issued detailed, final directions: claims must be processed within 30 days, no state may refuse payment merely because a death certificate does not explicitly record "died due to Covid-19," a District-level Grievance Redressal Committee must be constituted within a week to resolve certification disputes, deaths within 30 days of a positive test (even outside hospital) count as Covid-19 deaths, and even suicide within 30 days of a Covid-19 diagnosis qualifies for the payment. With these directions, the Miscellaneous Application was disposed of.
When a government fails to promptly implement a court's directions, affected citizens (or public-spirited petitioners) can return to the same court through a compliance/monitoring application to have specific, enforceable terms fixed: here, turning a general direction into a concrete Rs. 50,000 payment with clear timelines and a dispute-resolution mechanism that ordinary families can actually use.
