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 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe petitioner was convicted of murdering six members of a family in Kerala in 2001 and sentenced to death, a sentence confirmed by the Kerala High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court on appeal in 2009. His first review petition was dismissed in 2010, but it was later reopened for fresh consideration following the Supreme Court's ruling in Mohd. Arif v. Registrar, Supreme Court of India, which expanded review rights in death-penalty cases (open-court hearing before a three-judge bench).
The Court held that the trial court had wrongly branded the petitioner a "hardened criminal" with no supporting evidence, and that both the trial court and High Court had failed to properly weigh his socio-economic circumstances, he was an impoverished casual driver desperately trying to raise money to migrate for work, as a mitigating factor, and had also failed to consider his potential for reform and rehabilitation. The Court further held that the trial judge's reliance on the "collective conscience of society" to justify the death sentence was misplaced, since public opinion is not something courts can reliably gauge from trial evidence and judges should not act as spokesmen for it. On an overall reassessment of the crime and the criminal, the Court converted the death sentence into life imprisonment and disposed of the review petition accordingly.
In death penalty cases, a court must separately and meaningfully assess the convict's socio-economic background and genuine prospect of reform, not just the brutality of the crime, before confirming a death sentence, and vague appeals to "collective conscience" or public sentiment cannot substitute for this individualised sentencing analysis.
