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.
In an earlier order, the Supreme Court had permitted the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to approach the Tree Authority for permission to fell only 84 trees at Aarey Colony for a Metro Car Shed. Instead, MMRCL later applied to the Tree Authority itself (without returning to the Supreme Court) for permission covering 185 trees, and the Tree Authority granted permission to fell 124 and transplant 53. The Bombay High Court, in public interest litigation challenging this, held that the expanded permission exceeded what the Supreme Court had authorised and that felling should not proceed without the Supreme Court's own clarification, prompting MMRCL to file this application seeking that clarification.
The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court that MMRCL had acted improperly by going to the Tree Authority for more trees than the Court had authorised, instead of coming back to the Court itself when the numbers changed, and held that this conduct warranted being penalised. However, since more than 2000 trees had already been felled for the metro project and halting work at this stage would bring a public infrastructure project to a standstill, the Court declined to stay the 15 March 2023 permission. It instead allowed MMRCL to proceed, subject to conditions: depositing Rs. 10 lakh with the Conservator of Forests within two weeks, ensuring compliance with prior afforestation directions, filing compliance reports, and having IIT Bombay depute a team (at MMRCL's cost) to independently verify compliance with the afforestation/transplantation directions.
Even when a court ultimately permits a public project to proceed for practical reasons, a party that oversteps the specific permission granted by a court, rather than going back to seek fresh authorisation, can still be penalised and subjected to added conditions and independent oversight for that overreach.
