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 Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance in March 2020 of the difficulty litigants faced in meeting limitation deadlines because of COVID-19, and had repeatedly extended limitation periods through orders in March 2020, March 2021, and April 2021 (the last after a severe second wave). The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association had earlier intervened through this Miscellaneous Application (No. 665 of 2021) seeking restoration of the extension after the second wave hit. With the pandemic situation improving by September 2021, the Attorney General, counsel for the Election Commission, and the applicant association appeared before the Court to decide how and when the limitation relief should be wound down.
The Court decided there was no need to continue the blanket extension of limitation further, and disposed of the Miscellaneous Application by fixing a clear transition: the period from 15.03.2020 to 02.10.2021 would be excluded while computing limitation for all suits, appeals, and applications, with normal limitation resuming from 03.10.2021. It additionally directed that anyone whose limitation would otherwise have expired during the excluded period would get a minimum of 90 days from 03.10.2021 to file, or the actual balance period if longer, and that the same exclusion would apply to specific statutory timelines under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, the Commercial Courts Act, and the cheque-bounce provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act. It declined to revisit the formula fixed in its earlier March 2021 order, treating that as a settled one-time pandemic measure, and retained the earlier direction that the government keep allowing movement for time-bound legal, educational, and job-related purposes in COVID containment zones.
This order fixed the exact countrywide cut-off date (03.10.2021) by which the COVID-era blanket extension of court and tribunal filing deadlines ended: litigants, lawyers, and tribunals needed this date to correctly calculate limitation periods for matters whose deadlines fell during the pandemic.
