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 moreThis suo motu case was initiated after objectionable observations by the Calcutta High Court, which had quashed a man's POCSO conviction for enticing away and later marrying a 14-year-old girl, on the basis that the two, now with a child together, wished to continue living as a family. In an earlier 2024 judgment, the Supreme Court had already restored the man's conviction under the POCSO Act and IPC but postponed sentencing, appointing amici curiae and an expert committee to study the welfare of the victim, now an adult, and her child.
The expert committee's reports found that the young woman did not experience the original relationship as traumatic, but that the ensuing years of prosecution, her family's abandonment, and crushing legal expenses had caused her severe hardship, and that sending her husband to prison now would harm rather than protect her and her daughter. Invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 to do "complete justice," the Court held the accused's conviction stands but declined to require him to serve the mandatory statutory sentence, directing the State of West Bengal instead to provide the family with better housing, and to fund the education of both the victim and her child. It also impleaded the Union of India to develop broader, nationwide reforms on adolescent sex education and child-protection accountability, and made clear the order was not to be treated as a general precedent.
In truly exceptional circumstances, the Supreme Court can use its special Article 142 power to withhold even a mandatory minimum sentence where imprisonment would harm rather than serve the interests of the very victim the law is meant to protect, but this remains a one-off remedy tied to unique facts, not a change to the general POCSO sentencing framework.
