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 1066
Courts will not infer a concluded oral contract for the sale of immovable property just because the other side's witnesses seemed evasive: the party seeking specific performance must independently and affirmatively prove every essential term was genuinely agreed.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1065
Even in serious, high-value corruption cases, prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be used as a substitute for punishment when the trial is unlikely to conclude soon and the evidence is already secured: bail remains the touchstone principle under Article 21's personal liberty protection.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1067
Preventive detention cannot be used as a backdoor way to keep someone in custody once the ordinary criminal process, including bail, has already run its course on the same facts; the detaining authority must show a genuine, independent risk of future harm, not just recycle the criminal case file.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1068
In land acquisition disputes, courts will readily restore a uniform, fair market rate across similarly-situated parcels, but ancillary compensation heads (like moveable equipment such as tubewells) still require the claimant to prove their case with admissible evidence, not private reports whose authors were never examined in court.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8447
If you are injured while genuinely trying to board or exit a train, you are very likely covered under railway "untoward incident" compensation law, even if you technically hadn't fully boarded yet: courts read this protection broadly in favour of passengers, and contemporaneous official records (station logs, police diary entries) carry more weight than a statement taken from you much later.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8404
Courts will not entertain vague, unsubstantiated allegations of judicial bias, and a request to combine cases becomes moot once the other related proceedings have already concluded: genuine grievances about trial delay or procedure must be backed by specific, demonstrable facts, not just repeated litigation.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8403
Anticipatory bail can be granted even in matrimonial cases involving serious sexual-offence allegations where there is unexplained delay in reporting, no evidence substantiating the need for custodial interrogation, and the investigating agency's own conduct (e.g., undocumented "verbal" notices) fails to justify arrest, though this is assessed only for bail purposes, not as a finding on guilt.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8407
In family property disputes, signing a Relinquishment Deed acknowledging receipt of consideration, and then waiting years without challenging it or pursuing your claimed share, will make it very difficult to later prove you were never actually paid; courts expect contemporaneous action (a legal notice, a suit) and corroborating evidence, not delayed assertions alone.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8401
A tenant who claims to have paid a large sum toward an informal "mortgage" or side arrangement must be able to prove it with solid evidence (receipts, corroborating witnesses): bare assertions, especially when contradicted by one's own family members under cross-examination, will not defeat a landlord's claim for rent and possession.
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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.
Ms. Mepung Tadar Bage was appointed a Member of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) in August 2021. In August 2022, the question paper for the APPSC's Assistant Engineer (Civil) Mains Examination was leaked, leading to a police FIR, a CBI investigation (which chargesheeted a Deputy Secretary of APPSC and a private printing-press representative, not Ms. Bage), and a State-appointed inquiry committee. After the Chairman and other Members of APPSC resigned, Ms. Bage, the last remaining member, was singled out, and the President of India made a reference to the Supreme Court under Article 317(1) seeking her removal on six charges centered on an alleged collective failure to safeguard exam confidentiality and update outdated guidelines.
The Supreme Court, acting in its advisory/inquiry jurisdiction under Article 317(1) read with Article 145(1)(j) and Order XLIII of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, examined the meaning of "misbehaviour" through constitutional history, Constituent Assembly debates, and prior Article 317 references. It found no evidence that Ms. Bage was individually responsible for the paper leak, for the Commission's delay in updating its 2017 examination guidelines, or for the decision to keep certain punishment orders in abeyance: these were collective decisions of the Commission, and mere membership does not equate to personal fault. The Court also rejected the State's "collective responsibility" theory, noting inconsistency in the State's own conduct (other resigned members were later given other government posts, undermining the claim that all members were culpable). Concluding that none of the six charges met even the lower threshold of a "lapse," let alone "misbehaviour," the Court held the charges unproved and recommended to the President that Ms. Bage not be removed, that her suspension be revoked forthwith, and that she receive all consequential and monetary benefits.
Article 317 exists precisely to shield Public Service Commission members from being removed on vague, generalized, or politically expedient grounds: a member cannot be held personally guilty of "misbehaviour" for collective institutional failures unless specific evidence shows individual wrongdoing or dereliction of a specific duty.
