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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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.
In June 2015, six-month-old Shreejita Pattnaik was travelling with her parents when their car was struck head-on by a rashly driven tanker, leaving her with severe spinal cord and neurological injuries. She was later diagnosed with post-traumatic myelopathy with paraplegia and certified as 90% permanently disabled, requiring lifelong medical care and assistance. Her mother, Gayatree Pattnaik, pursued a compensation claim on her behalf. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Cuttack awarded about Rs. 30.13 lakh, which the Orissa High Court enhanced to about Rs. 45.41 lakh on appeal, but reduced the "multiplier" used to calculate future loss of income from 18 (used by MACT) to 15. The family appealed to the Supreme Court seeking further enhancement.
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and substantially increased the compensation to Rs. 83,38,360, with interest raised from 6% to 9% per annum from the date of filing the claim. It restored the multiplier of 18 (rejecting the High Court's reduction to 15), holding that recent precedent supports using the higher multiplier for very young victims with catastrophic, lifelong disability. Relying on the Court's earlier ruling in Kajal v. Jagdish Chand, the bench emphasized that compensation in cases involving children with permanent, severe disability must be assessed liberally, since the claim can only be awarded once and cannot be revisited later, and increased amounts awarded for attendant charges, pain and suffering/loss of amenities/marriage prospects, future medical treatment, and conveyance and special diet, while leaving the medical-expenses figure undisturbed.
In motor accident compensation cases involving children who suffer permanent, severe disability, courts are expected to take a liberal, welfare-oriented approach (including using a higher income multiplier and generously assessing non-pecuniary heads like pain, suffering, and lifelong attendant care) because such compensation, once awarded, cannot be revisited if it later proves inadequate.
