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.
A company (M/s. Sri Vishnupriya Industries Ltd.) had borrowed money from IDBI as a secured creditor and had imported machinery that was warehoused with the Customs Department. When the company failed to pay customs duty on the goods, customs authorities sought to sell the machinery to recover the duty. Around the same time, the company went into liquidation, and the Official Liquidator claimed the machinery should instead be handed over to be distributed among creditors under company law. The Andhra Pradesh High Court's full bench sided with the customs authorities, holding they had first right to sell the goods and recover duty ahead of other creditors.
The Supreme Court held that the Customs Act does not create an overriding "first charge" on goods that would defeat a secured creditor's rights under Sections 529A and 530 of the Companies Act, 1956, at least for dues that arose before Section 142A of the Customs Act (which does create such a first charge) was inserted in 2011. Since the customs duty here became due in 2000, well before Section 142A existed, it did not enjoy priority over IDBI's secured claim as an "overriding preferential creditor." The Court overruled a contrary Calcutta High Court decision (Dytron case) that had been relied upon by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and allowed the appeal, directing that the sale proceeds already deposited with the Court be paid to the Official Liquidator for distribution under the Companies Act priority scheme.
When a company goes bankrupt, secured lenders (like banks) generally rank ahead of the government's tax/customs dues unless a specific law says otherwise, and that priority rule depends on exactly when the government's claim arose relative to when relevant priority-creating provisions came into force.
