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.
The appellant-landlord had let out shop premises in Rajasthan in 1995 at an agreed rent with a 10% annual increase clause, and the tenant paid rent accordingly (reaching Rs. 16,564/month) until mid-2003; when the tenant then stopped paying for several months, the landlord issued a notice demanding the arrears at the existing rate, but the tenant instead unilaterally recalculated the rent downward (to Rs. 13,600/month) by applying the new Rajasthan Rent Control Act, 2001's revision formula from the start of the tenancy, and paid only the lower amount. The Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal ordered the tenant's eviction for default, but the Rajasthan High Court (Single Judge and then Division Bench) ruled in the tenant's favour, holding there was no default.
The Supreme Court held that under Section 4 of the Act, 2001, the rent being paid immediately before the Act commenced remains the "agreed rent" and continues to apply unless and until the landlord affirmatively invokes the statutory revision procedure under Sections 6 and 14: a tenant has no right to unilaterally recompute and reduce the rent on his own initiative using the Act's revision formula. Since the landlord here was only demanding the pre-existing agreed rent (not a fresh 10% increase), and the tenant's self-calculated lower payment fell short of the arrears demanded in the notice, the tenant was in default under Section 9 of the Act, which requires payment of the specific arrears demanded by notice. The Court set aside the High Court's judgment, allowed the landlord's appeals, and restored the Rent Tribunal's eviction order.
A tenant cannot unilaterally recalculate and reduce an already-agreed rent by invoking a later rent-control statute's revision formula on their own: that mechanism must be formally invoked by the landlord, and until then the previously agreed rent stays payable in full.
