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 Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance, prompted by a letter from an NGO and separate appeals from the child victim's mother and other organisations, of an Allahabad High Court order that had downgraded the charges against two men accused of taking a minor girl on a motorcycle under false pretences and sexually assaulting her near a culvert (the assault was interrupted only because witnesses arrived after hearing her scream). The trial court had originally summoned the accused for attempt to rape under Section 376 IPC read with the POCSO Act, but the High Court modified this to lesser charges, holding the acts amounted only to "preparation," not "attempt," to commit rape.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had misapplied the settled legal distinction between "preparation" (deliberating and arranging means) and "attempt" (execution of the criminal intent that falls short of completion), since the accused had already taken concrete steps toward the assault and were stopped only by the intervention of bystanders, this constituted a prima facie attempt to rape, not mere preparation. It therefore set aside the High Court's order and restored the original, more serious summons. Separately, responding to the petitioners' concerns about judicial insensitivity in handling cases involving sexual offences against minors and vulnerable persons, the Court declined to draft its own guidelines immediately but instead directed the National Judicial Academy, through former Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose, to constitute an expert committee to prepare draft guidelines (written in plain, accessible language) on inculcating sensitivity and compassion into judicial handling of such cases, to be submitted within three months.
Courts assessing whether an accused merely "prepared" for or actually "attempted" a crime must look at how far concrete steps toward the offence had progressed and why the crime was not completed: an assault interrupted only by outside intervention is an attempt, not mere preparation; separately, the judgment underscores that judicial language and reasoning in cases involving minor victims of sexual offences must be handled with sensitivity, not clinical detachment.
