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.
Genpact India bought back shares from its sole shareholder in 2013 for about Rs. 800 crore. The tax department sought to tax this buyback under the newly-inserted Section 115QA of the Income Tax Act, and Genpact challenged this by filing a writ petition in the Delhi High Court instead of pursuing the ordinary statutory appeal route, after obtaining an interim order. The High Court dismissed the writ petition, holding that Genpact should pursue its appellate remedy, while recording certain concessions by the tax department to protect Genpact's interests on appeal. Genpact appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that merely because a High Court had earlier entertained a writ petition and granted an interim order does not mean the matter can never be dismissed later on the ground of an available alternative remedy: that principle cannot be stretched into an absolute bar on dismissal for alternative remedy once a petition is admitted. The Court found no error in the High Court's approach, noting that the concessions recorded by the tax department protected Genpact from any prejudice. It specifically declined to decide the substantive question of whether the buyback fell within Section 115QA, leaving those issues to be examined by the appellate tax authorities. The appeal was dismissed, with the Court directing that Genpact's pending statutory appeal (filed in 2019) now proceed in accordance with law.
Courts strongly prefer that tax (and other) disputes go through the statutory appeal process rather than bypass it via a writ petition, even if a writ petition was initially allowed to proceed with an interim order: admission of a writ petition does not guarantee it will be decided on merits if an adequate alternative remedy exists.
