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 appellant's husband went missing after she was last seen leaving their home with him early one morning; his body was later found in a nearby well. She was convicted of his murder along with a man she was alleged to be having an affair with, based on circumstantial evidence, being "last seen" with the deceased, an alleged extra-judicial confession that the co-accused had committed the killing, and a blood-stained axe said to have been recovered from her house. The High Court acquitted her alleged co-accused for lack of evidence but upheld her own conviction, relying mainly on the "last seen" circumstance and the alleged confession.
The Supreme Court, applying the settled rule that a conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires an unbroken chain of circumstances pointing only to guilt, examined each circumstance and found them all unreliable: the alleged motive (an illicit affair) was undercut by the prosecution's own witness admitting the husband and the alleged paramour had been seen together peacefully just a day before; the "last seen" circumstance alone (a husband and wife last seen together, as is ordinary) was not enough to prove guilt; the axe recovery was unwitnessed by any independent person and inconsistent with other testimony; and the extra-judicial confession, which blamed the already-acquitted co-accused, could not be used once that co-accused had been acquitted. With only the weak "last seen" circumstance left and no corroboration, the Court held the chain of circumstances was not complete enough to sustain a murder conviction, allowed the appeal, set aside the convictions of both courts below, and acquitted the appellant.
A criminal conviction cannot rest on a single weak link, such as merely being the "last person seen" with someone who later died: Indian law requires that all incriminating circumstances form a complete, unbroken chain pointing exclusively to guilt, and if any reasonable possibility of innocence remains, the accused must be given the benefit of the doubt.
