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.
Under a 2008 Purchase Order, Tata Communications Ltd. was to provide MTNL with bandwidth connectivity, with "last mile" connectivity to be completed within two months. Tata delayed this connectivity for years, and when a billing dispute arose, MTNL unilaterally deducted over Rs. 1.1 crore from Tata's bills by imposing its own rental charges for the delay, rather than invoking the contract's liquidated-damages clause. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) found Tata genuinely at fault for the delay but held that MTNL's unilateral deduction was unauthorized "self-adjudication," capped MTNL's recoverable damages at the contract's liquidated-damages ceiling of 12% of the billed amount (about Rs. 25.8 lakh), and ordered MTNL to refund the balance (about Rs. 84.7 lakh) with 9% interest; MTNL appealed this to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court framed the key legal question as whether a party governed by an express contract can instead claim compensation under Section 70 of the Indian Contract Act (a provision for situations resembling a contract, where no actual contract exists), and examined the liquidated-damages clause (Clause 16.2) in the Purchase Order, which expressly capped such damages at 12% of contract value and made that figure "final and not challengeable." Since MTNL and Tata were bound by this express contractual term, MTNL could not claim a higher deduction outside the contract's own ceiling, however genuine Tata's delay may have been. The Supreme Court agreed with the TDSAT's reasoning and computation, upheld its order in full, and dismissed MTNL's appeal.
Where a contract contains a specific, capped liquidated-damages clause, a party cannot bypass that cap by unilaterally deducting a larger amount or by invoking a general legal remedy meant for situations where no contract exists: parties must enforce their contractual remedies strictly within the limits they themselves agreed to.
