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.
Jaspal Singh agreed in 2003 to buy a co-owner's half-share of a property with a factory on it from Ashwani Kumar for Rs. 12.5 lakh, paying substantial earnest money, with the sale deed date extended twice by mutual consent. When Ashwani Kumar failed to appear before the Sub-Registrar to complete the sale, Jaspal Singh sued for specific performance. The Trial Court found the agreement genuine but refused specific performance on a technical reading of its refund clause; the First Appellate Court reversed this and decreed specific performance in Jaspal Singh's favour, after which the sale deed was executed and possession handed over. The High Court, however, allowed a second appeal by Ashwani Kumar and restored the Trial Court's refusal of specific performance, questioning the genuineness of the transaction.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had exceeded its limited jurisdiction under Section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure by overturning concurrent factual findings of the Trial Court and First Appellate Court on genuineness of the agreement without ever recording a finding that those findings were "perverse": the only basis on which a second appellate court may disturb pure findings of fact. The Court also held that a clause merely providing for refund of earnest money if the sale deed could not be executed does not, on its true construction, bar a claim for specific performance. It found the two mutually-agreed extensions (totalling about seven months) were fully consistent with a genuine transaction and did not indicate a sham. The Court restored the First Appellate Court's decree of specific performance and quashed the High Court's judgment.
A High Court cannot reopen concurrent findings of fact in a second appeal unless it specifically finds them "perverse"; and an earnest-money-refund clause in a sale agreement does not by itself prevent a buyer from seeking specific performance of the sale.
