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.
In 1980, the defendant agreed to sell a residential property in Chandigarh to Major General (retd.) Darshan Singh for Rs. 3,50,000, with Rs. 30,000 paid as earnest money; the agreement itself capped the buyer's remedy on default to a refund plus Rs. 10,000 damages, expressly barring a suit for specific performance. The plaintiffs claimed the price was later renegotiated down to Rs. 2,90,000 and a draft sale deed was prepared, but the defendant then backed out after property prices rose in the area, prompting the plaintiffs to sue for specific performance instead of just damages.
The Supreme Court held that specific performance is a discretionary and equitable remedy, and found that the plaintiffs had made false or materially incorrect statements in their plaint, including continuing to seek a decree over the entire suit property even after plaintiff no. 1 admitted in cross-examination that it was actually joint family (HUF) property, without joining the other co-sharers. Because of this conduct, the Court held the plaintiffs were disentitled to the discretionary relief of specific performance, upholding the concurrent findings of the Trial Court, Appellate Court and High Court on that point. However, it modified the decree to grant 6% annual interest on the Rs. 40,000 damages already awarded, from the date of the trial court's decree until payment, partly allowing the appeal only to that limited extent.
Specific performance of a property sale agreement is not a guaranteed remedy. Courts can refuse it, even where a valid agreement exists, if the person seeking it has made false or misleading statements or has not disclosed material facts (such as other co-owners' shares) in their claim.
