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.
Mohd. Sabeer, a scrap dealer, was a passenger on a U.P. State Road Transport bus that, driven rashly and negligently, hit a parked tempo near Ghaziabad around 12:30 am. He suffered severe injuries including amputation of his right lower limb, with a disability certificate recording 70% permanent disability. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded him about Rs. 15.76 lakh; the Delhi High Court, while affirming liability, reduced his assessed functional disability to just 35% and raised the compensation only slightly to about Rs. 16.7 lakh, also denying him "future prospects" because his income tax returns showed his income had risen after the accident. His review petition was dismissed, leading to this appeal.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had wrongly equated a low functional-disability percentage with the real impact of losing a leg on a self-employed scrap dealer who needs mobility to run his business, and fixed the loss of earning capacity at 60% instead of 35%. It also held that a post-accident rise in income (from tax returns predating the accident, in any event) does not disqualify a claimant from future-prospects compensation, and awarded the standard 40% future-prospects addition per the Pranay Sethi precedent. The Court substantially increased compensation for the prosthetic limb (to cover three replacements over his expected lifetime) and for pain, suffering, and loss of amenities, citing the duty to compensate claimants from economically weaker backgrounds liberally. Total compensation was raised from about Rs. 16.7 lakh to Rs. 38,70,120 with 9% interest, and the appeals were allowed.
Compensation for permanent disability in a motor accident must reflect the claimant's real, occupation-specific loss of earning capacity, not just a clinical disability percentage, and a rise in post-accident income (especially from a period predating the accident) is not by itself a valid reason to deny future-prospects compensation.
