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.
Land measuring about 13 bighas 4 biswas in village Ghonda Gujran Khadar, Delhi (in which Ratiram held a 1/12th share) was notified for acquisition under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in September 1989 for the Planned Development of Delhi, followed by a Section 6 declaration in 1990 and an award in June 1992. According to the Government's own affidavit, possession was taken and handed over to the beneficiary department on 21 March 2007, though compensation had not been paid to the recorded owner. Ratiram and others petitioned the Delhi High Court, which in February 2017 declared the acquisition lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act solely because compensation had not been tendered, relying on Pune Municipal Corporation vs. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki (2014), without addressing the fact that possession had already been taken.
The Supreme Court allowed the Government's appeal and set aside the High Court's order. It held that the Pune Municipal Corporation decision on which the High Court relied had been expressly overruled by the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal (2020) 8 SCC 129, which laid down that the word "or" in Section 24(2) must be read as "nor"/"and": an acquisition lapses only if the authorities, through inaction for five years or more before 1 January 2014, have neither taken possession nor paid compensation. Where possession has been taken but compensation has not been paid, there is no lapse; once possession is taken under Section 16 of the 1894 Act the land vests in the State and nothing in the 2013 Act divests it. Since possession here was taken in 2007, the deemed-lapse declaration could not stand. The original writ petition was dismissed, with no order as to costs.
Under the 2013 land acquisition law, an old acquisition is treated as lapsed only when the government has done nothing at all for five years, neither taken the land nor paid for it. If the government has taken possession, the landowner's remedy for unpaid compensation is to claim the money (with interest), not to get the acquisition cancelled.
