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.
Canon India and three other camera importers (Nikon, Sony, Samsung) imported Digital Still Image Video Cameras that were cleared without customs duty after a Deputy Commissioner of Customs determined they qualified for a duty exemption. Roughly two years later, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), a different department, issued show-cause notices alleging the importers had suppressed facts about the cameras' recording capacity, and sought to recover the duty under Section 28(4) of the Customs Act, 1962. The Customs tribunal (CESTAT) upheld the demand, prompting this appeal.
The Supreme Court held that Section 28(4) empowers only "the proper officer", meaning the same officer (or their designated successor) who originally assessed and cleared the goods, to reopen that assessment, not any customs officer generally and certainly not an officer from a different department such as the DRI, unless specifically entrusted with that function under Section 6 of the Act. The notification the government relied on to authorise DRI officers was found to have been issued without proper legal authority. The Court also held, on the facts, that the importers had disclosed the cameras' specifications at the time of clearance, so there was no wilful suppression justifying the extended five-year limitation period. The show-cause notices and resulting demands were quashed.
A legal power to reopen an official decision can only be exercised by the specific officer or authority the law designates for that purpose: a different agency cannot step in and redo another department's assessment merely because it disagrees with the outcome.
