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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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 custody battle between Perry Kansagra ("Perry") and Smriti Madan Kansagra ("Smriti") over their son Aditya, the Supreme Court in 2020 gave Perry custody on the strength of his undertakings that he would submit to Indian courts' jurisdiction and would obtain a "Mirror Order" from a Kenyan court reflecting the Indian order. It later emerged that the Kenyan High Court had in fact refused to register/recognise the Indian judgment (an order Perry never disclosed to the Supreme Court), and that Perry took the child to Kenya and then defied several follow-up directions of the Supreme Court, including ignoring notices and severing contact with Smriti. In October 2021 a three-judge bench recalled the original custody judgment as having been obtained by fraud and initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against Perry.
Despite being duly served (including through the Ministry of Law, e-mail, and steps to secure his presence via CBI Look Out and Red/Yellow Corner Notices), Perry neither responded to the contempt notice nor appeared, though his advocate was present but chose not to argue on his behalf. The Court held that making false statements/undertakings to deceive a court and then reneging on them interferes with the administration of justice and squarely amounts to contempt, relying on precedents like Chandra Shashi v. Anil Kumar Verma and K.D. Sharma v. SAIL. On this record, the Court found Perry guilty of criminal contempt for violating his solemn undertakings and for obstructing justice. However, rather than immediately sentencing him, the Court gave him one final opportunity to appear in person with the child on the next date and be heard on the question of punishment, noting that purging the contempt could still lead to a sympathetic view.
Undertakings given to a court are treated as solemn commitments, and courts can and will recall their own final orders and hold a litigant in criminal contempt if those undertakings are later shown to have been given falsely or violated, fighting a custody or civil case with less than full candour toward the court carries serious independent legal risk of its own.
