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.
Milkhi Ram, a daily-wage employee of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board, had his services terminated in 1985 and sued in a civil court, winning reinstatement and back wages on the ground he had completed over 240 days of continuous service. The Board's appeals were repeatedly rejected, but when the decree reached the execution stage, the Board argued for the first time that the civil court never had jurisdiction because the claim was really founded on the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which required the dispute to go to a labour/industrial court instead. The High Court agreed and set aside the decree as a nullity, even at the execution stage, prompting the employee's appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's view that since the employee's claim was expressly founded on provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, the ordinary civil court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit, and a decree passed without jurisdiction is a nullity that can be challenged even at the execution stage. The Court traced this principle through its own precedents on Rajasthan SRTC employees and held the civil court's decree in Milkhi Ram's favour could not stand. However, taking a humane view of the hardship to the long-terminated worker, the Court directed that the back wages already paid to him need not be recovered. The appeal was dismissed on the jurisdiction point, but the recovery of money already paid was waived.
If your claim for reinstatement or back wages is based on protections under the Industrial Disputes Act, you generally must approach the labour/industrial court, not a civil court, and an objection to jurisdiction can be raised even years later at the stage of executing a decree.
