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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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.
A batch of appellants who claimed to be registered Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) had their loan accounts classified as Non-Performing Assets (NPA) by various banks/NBFCs, which then proceeded to enforce security interests under the SARFAESI Act. The appellants argued the banks should first have followed a 2015 Government of India "Framework for Revival and Rehabilitation of MSMEs" notification meant to help stressed MSMEs before declaring their loans NPA. The Bombay High Court had dismissed their writ petitions, holding banks were not bound to apply this framework on their own.
The Supreme Court held that the 2015 Framework, issued under Section 9 of the MSMED Act and reinforced by RBI directions under the Banking Regulation Act, has statutory force and is mandatory: banks must identify "incipient stress" in an MSME's account and offer it a chance at revival before classifying it as NPA. The High Court's view that this was merely optional was held to be erroneous and was set aside. However, since the SARFAESI proceedings in these particular cases had already concluded and possession of the properties had already been taken, the Court did not send the cases back for retrial, but left it open to the appellants to pursue other available legal remedies.
MSME borrowers are entitled to a structured revival process before their loan is declared NPA, but they must proactively and promptly furnish authenticated proof of their MSME registration to the bank, raising this claim belatedly, after enforcement action is already complete, will not help.
