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.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe appellant, Gupteswar Behera, was one of several persons convicted for the murder of a man named Raghumani, who was found with multiple cut injuries after an alleged attack. The prosecution's case rested on two dying declarations the victim allegedly made to witnesses before he died, plus the testimony of two claimed eyewitnesses whose statements were recorded four to five days after the incident. The trial court convicted the accused and the High Court upheld Gupteswar Behera's conviction while acquitting one other co-accused.
The Supreme Court held that the medical evidence, both post-mortem doctors testified the victim could not have survived more than about ten minutes after sustaining his injuries, made it highly doubtful that he lived long enough to travel to the scene (a 15-minute walk away) and still make composed statements naming his attackers to the witnesses who arrived later. Since the eyewitness testimony had already been rejected by the High Court as unreliable due to the delayed recording of statements, and the timeline undermined the credibility of the dying declarations, the Court found the prosecution had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The appeal was allowed, the conviction and sentence were set aside, and Gupteswar Behera was acquitted and ordered released unless required in another case.
A dying declaration or witness statement can be rejected by courts, even in a murder trial, if medical evidence about how long the victim could have survived makes the sequence of events physically implausible: timelines matter as much as the content of testimony.
