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.
The appellant, a 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) growing cut flowers, was permitted duty-free import of inputs (like plants, fertilizers and greenhouse equipment) on condition it exported its produce, with limited domestic ("DTA") sales allowed only with government approval and subject to maintaining positive net foreign exchange earnings. The appellant made substantial domestic sales of cut flowers worth over Rs 38 lakh without the required Development Commissioner's approval and without meeting the foreign-exchange condition, and was issued a demand for customs duty, interest and penalty, which was upheld by the excise authorities, the Commissioner (Appeals) and the CESTAT tribunal.
The Supreme Court held that although cut flowers themselves are non-excisable goods (so ordinary excise duty could not apply to them), the exemption notification governing the EOU's duty-free imports made it liable to pay customs duty measured by the value of the imported inputs used in production, once the appellant breached the domestic-sales conditions of the applicable Export-Import Policy. The Court rejected the appellant's argument that a 2001 amendment changing how this input-duty was calculated should apply retrospectively, holding it was a substantive policy change benefiting EOUs going forward, not a clarification of a pre-existing error. It also upheld invocation of the extended five-year limitation period under Section 28 of the Customs Act, finding the appellant had wilfully suppressed its use of imported inputs when seeking after-the-fact approval for its unauthorised domestic sales, and accordingly dismissed the appeal.
An export-oriented business that receives duty-free import benefits cannot sidestep those obligations by selling goods domestically in breach of the approval conditions, and a taxpayer claiming a tax exemption bears the burden of proving every condition was met, with any ambiguity resolved in favour of the tax authority, not the claimant.
