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.
Kalvakuntla Kavitha, a Member of the Telangana Legislative Council and former MP, was arrested in connection with the Delhi excise policy case being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and CBI. A Single Judge of the Delhi High Court had refused her bail, reasoning that although she was a well-educated and accomplished woman, she could not be treated as a "vulnerable woman" and so was not entitled to the special proviso for women under Section 45(1) of the PMLA. She had already spent about five months in custody, with investigation (charge-sheet/complaint) already complete in both cases.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had misread its own earlier decision in Saumya Chaurasia: the proviso to Section 45(1) of the PMLA, which extends special bail consideration to women, sick or infirm persons, and minors, is not restricted only to "vulnerable" women, and a woman's education or professional accomplishments cannot by themselves disqualify her from its benefit; each case must be weighed on its own facts, with the Court giving specific reasons if the benefit is to be denied. Noting that with 493 witnesses and roughly 50,000 pages of documents the trial could not conclude soon, and applying the principle that "bail is the rule and refusal is an exception" and that prolonged pre-trial incarceration should not become punishment without trial, the Court granted bail on conditions including depositing her passport and not tampering with evidence or witnesses.
The PMLA's special bail proviso for women cannot be denied merely because the accused is educated, wealthy or politically prominent. Courts must give specific, case-specific reasons before withholding a statutory protection, and prolonged pre-trial detention with no realistic prospect of an early trial weighs heavily in favour of bail.
