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.
Globe Ground India Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture company providing ground-handling services to Lufthansa German Airlines at Indian airports, closed its operations in December 2009 and retrenched 106 workmen. The workers' union raised an industrial dispute against Globe Ground India, but also sought to implead Lufthansa itself as a party, arguing Lufthansa's subsidiary held a majority stake in Globe Ground India and that a new Bird Group company had taken over the same work using the same equipment and retained most employees except union activists. The Industrial Tribunal allowed impleadment of Lufthansa, but the Delhi High Court (Single Judge and then Division Bench) set that aside, leading to this appeal.
The Supreme Court held that under Section 10(4) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, a Tribunal must confine adjudication to the specific points referred by the government and matters incidental to them: here, only whether Globe Ground India's closure and retrenchment were legal. The Court found Lufthansa was neither a "necessary" party (without whom no effective order could be made) nor a "proper" party (whose presence was needed for a complete decision), since the dispute concerned only the direct employer, Globe Ground India, and mere shareholding by a Lufthansa subsidiary did not justify piercing the corporate veil. Finding the concurrent findings of the Single Judge and Division Bench of the High Court free of error, the Court dismissed the appeals with no order as to costs.
In an industrial dispute, a parent or holding company cannot automatically be dragged into litigation against its subsidiary merely because of shareholding links: courts will pierce the corporate veil only in limited circumstances, and a labour tribunal's adjudication stays confined to the specific question the government actually referred to it.
