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.
An environmental organisation (Forward Foundation) had complained to the National Green Tribunal that a large residential/commercial/IT-park project in Bengaluru, built on land allotted by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, was encroaching on storm-water drains (Rajakaluves) and wetland catchment area feeding Bellandur Lake. The NGT ruled that construction violated environmental norms and imposed a strict buffer/green-zone requirement around lakes and drains (75m for lakes, down to 25m for minor drains), directing demolition of offending structures. The developer (Mantri Techzone, as respondent No. 9 before the NGT) and several other affected parties, including the State of Karnataka, appealed this and connected NGT orders to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court heard all the connected appeals together. It held that the buffer-zone direction, as it applied generally to many unrelated land owners/developers who were not responsible for the specific encroachment found against Mantri Techzone and its co-respondent, was not justified and set aside that general portion of the NGT's order for those other appellants. However, for Mantri Techzone and its co-respondent (the parties actually found to have encroached on the Rajakaluves), the Court upheld the NGT's findings and buffer-zone directions, dismissing their specific appeal (Civil Appeal No. 5016 of 2016) and sustaining the order against them.
Builders and developers can be held to strict environmental buffer-zone requirements around lakes and natural drains when courts find they actually encroached on such ecologically sensitive land, even while sparing other, unrelated parties from a blanket rule that wasn't justified as applied to them.
