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.
Indian Overseas Bank, after the Corporate Debtor's loan became a non-performing asset, initiated SARFAESI proceedings, took symbolic possession of two mortgaged properties, and conducted an e-auction where bidders paid 25% upfront and were later granted extra time for the balance 75%. Before the balance was paid, the Corporate Debtor's own promoter filed a Section 10 insolvency petition, which the NCLT admitted on 3 January 2019, triggering a moratorium. The Bank still accepted the remaining 75% payment on 8 March 2019 (after the moratorium began) and issued the sale certificate. The Corporate Debtor's promoter got the NCLT to set aside the sale as violating the moratorium, and the NCLAT upheld this, leading the Bank to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that under the statutory scheme of the SARFAESI Rules, a sale is complete only when the full payment is made and the sale certificate is issued: here that happened on 8 March 2019, after the moratorium under Section 14(1)(c) of the IBC had already come into force on 3 January 2019. Since Section 14(1)(c) bars any action to foreclose, recover, or enforce a security interest (including under SARFAESI) once CIRP begins, and Section 238 gives the IBC overriding effect over inconsistent laws, the Bank could not lawfully complete the sale after the moratorium started. The Court also rejected the Bank's argument that the insolvency petition was filed with mala fide intent to stall the SARFAESI sale, finding no such case made out. The concurrent findings of the NCLT and NCLAT were upheld and the appeal was dismissed.
Once insolvency proceedings are admitted and a moratorium is declared under the IBC, all recovery actions against the corporate debtor's assets, including a SARFAESI sale that has not yet been completed by full payment and issuance of a sale certificate, are frozen, and the IBC's overriding provisions will prevail over banking recovery laws.
