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.
Two Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, registered with the UNHCR and living in Indian refugee camps, had filed a writ petition in 2017 seeking basic human amenities for the Rohingya community in India after the government directed states to initiate deportation processes. In 2021 they filed this interlocutory application after news reports indicated that about 150-170 Rohingyas detained in a Jammu sub-jail faced imminent deportation to Myanmar, seeking their release and a direction restraining the Union of India from deporting them, relying on the international law principle of non-refoulement (not returning refugees to a country where they face danger) and reports of genocide findings against Myanmar by the International Court of Justice.
The Supreme Court held that India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention, so reliance on international conventions could only be persuasive, not binding, and that it could not comment on the situation in another country (Myanmar). It accepted that fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 extend to non-citizens, but held that the right not to be deported flows from Article 19(1)(e) (the right to reside and settle in India), which is available only to citizens, so refugees could not claim an absolute right against deportation. Given the Union's stated concerns about national security and illegal immigration, and because the Court had already rejected a similar plea for Assam detainees in 2018, it declined to grant the interim relief of preventing deportation altogether. However, it made clear that the detained Rohingyas in Jammu could not be deported unless the prescribed legal procedure for deportation was followed, and disposed of the application on those terms.
Constitutional protections of life and personal liberty (Article 21) extend to foreigners in India, but not every right available to citizens (such as the right to reside and settle) extends equally to non-citizens; even so, the state must still follow due legal procedure before deporting anyone, rather than acting arbitrarily.
