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.
Monsanto held a patent over genetically modified "Bt cotton" seed technology and had licensed it to Nuziveedu Seeds under a royalty-based agreement. After a dispute over the licence fee (triggered by new government price controls), Monsanto terminated the agreement and sued for patent infringement, seeking an injunction against Nuziveedu's continued use of the technology. Nuziveedu counter-claimed that the patent itself was invalid under Indian law, which excludes "essentially biological processes" and plant varieties from patent protection. A single judge granted a limited interim injunction without resolving the patent-validity question, but the High Court's Division Bench went further, summarily ruling the patent itself invalid and dismissing Monsanto's case entirely.
The Supreme Court held that the Division Bench had erred by deciding the complex, technical question of whether the patent was valid at a preliminary, summary stage - without a full trial, expert evidence, or proper examination of witnesses, as required by the Civil Procedure Code for such complicated disputes. The validity of a patent involving intricate biotechnology issues could not be decided "by abstract consideration based on text books only." The Court set aside the Division Bench's order, restored the original interim injunction passed by the single judge, and sent the underlying lawsuit back to the single judge for a full trial on the merits, including the question of patent validity.
Complex technical and scientific disputes - such as whether a biotechnology patent is valid - require a full trial with expert evidence, not a shortcut summary decision, even at the stage of granting or refusing an interim injunction.
