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 moreA woman married in July 1994 died by poisoning at her matrimonial home in Rohtak in September 1996. Her family said she had been repeatedly harassed over dowry demands. The trial court convicted her husband and mother-in-law, and the High Court reduced the sentence for dowry death to ten years' rigorous imprisonment and dismissed the appeal. The defence argued that she suffered from depression and took her own life, and that the mother-in-law was working in Delhi at the time.
The Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the convictions. It held that a death within seven years of marriage, caused otherwise than under normal circumstances and preceded by cruelty connected with dowry demands, is a "dowry death" under Section 304B whether it was suicide, homicide or accident, because the section does not depend on how the death occurred. Once the essential facts are proved, Section 113B requires the court to presume that the accused caused the death, and the burden shifts to them to rebut that presumption. The Court relied on the family's evidence of repeated demands, the doctor's testimony that she had confided in him about harassment by her in-laws, and the mother-in-law's dominant role in the demands, even though she was not living in the house.
When a married woman dies in unnatural circumstances within seven years of marriage, and there is proof of dowry-related harassment shortly before, the law presumes that her husband and in-laws caused the death, and they must prove otherwise. A later claim of suicide or an in-law's absence from the house does not by itself defeat that presumption.
