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.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1073
In circumstantial-evidence cases, forensic and DNA evidence must actually corroborate the alleged crime: a conviction cannot survive where the most crucial scientific evidence, on its own terms, points away from rather than toward the prosecution's theory.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1074
A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires every link in the chain, timeline, witness credibility, forensic matches, and motive, to be proven beyond reasonable doubt; gaps or suppressed evidence at any link entitle the accused to the benefit of the doubt, even in a serious case like a double murder.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8505
Courts will not quash a criminal case merely because the accused has a plausible alibi-type defence; unless that defence is conclusive and undisputed, the matter must be tested through the ordinary trial process.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8547
A private compromise between victim and accused cannot by itself secure quashing of a case involving serious, heinous allegations like attempted murder with a weapon: such matters must proceed to trial regardless of settlement.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8563
Railway Claims Tribunals cannot reject a bona fide passenger's death claim based on speculative inferences when there is no direct evidence of an alternative cause of death; the compensation scheme under the Railways Act is to be interpreted generously in favour of victims' families.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8559
In matrimonial offences, courts can and do quash criminal proceedings once a genuine compromise is verified directly with the complainant, sparing both parties a prolonged and pointless trial.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8541
A co-accused's bail does not automatically extend to another accused where their actual roles in the offence differ materially; delay caused by one's own defence counsel cannot later be used as a ground for bail.
Execution Petition · 2026:DHC:8567
An arbitral award must be adequately stamped before a court can enforce it; courts give only a limited window to cure such defects, after which the award becomes legally unusable until the deficiency is fixed.
Arbitration Petition · 2026:DHC:8555
A genuine settlement reached through mediation renders a pending arbitration-related court petition moot, allowing parties to close out litigation quickly once they resolve their dispute privately.
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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 Sudanese sugar project was financed through an Indian government credit line, with Overseas Infrastructure Alliance acting as the main contractor and Kay Bouvet Engineering as a sub-contractor. After the Sudanese project owner terminated its contract with Overseas and signed a fresh direct contract with Kay Bouvet, Overseas claimed that an earlier advance payment of about Rs. 47 crore it had routed to Kay Bouvet was now a debt owed back to it, and filed an insolvency petition against Kay Bouvet as an "operational creditor." The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) rejected the insolvency petition, but the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) reversed that and ordered the petition to be admitted, prompting Kay Bouvet to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that an insolvency petition under Section 9 of the IBC must be rejected if a genuine, non-spurious "dispute" exists between the parties, as laid down in its earlier ruling in Mobilox Innovations. Examining the correspondence and agreements, the Court found that the disputed amount had actually been paid on Mashkour's (the Sudanese company's) behalf and from its funds, and that Mashkour itself had directed the amount be adjusted against future supplies rather than refunded, showing Kay Bouvet's defense was real and evidence-backed, not a sham. Since a genuine dispute existed, the insolvency process could not be used to settle what was really a commercial dispute. The Court restored the NCLT's order rejecting the insolvency petition and set aside the NCLAT's order.
The insolvency process (IBC) is not meant to be used as a debt-recovery shortcut: if a company facing an insolvency claim can show a genuine, evidence-backed dispute over the amount claimed, the insolvency application must be rejected and the dispute resolved through ordinary civil remedies instead.
