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.
The two companies had a 2002 agreement for bus terminus and heritage-corridor works in Agra, under which Ishvakoo received a Rs. 3.5 crore mobilisation advance backed by bank guarantees. After disputes went to arbitration, National Projects invoked and encashed the bank guarantees in 2017 because Ishvakoo failed to keep them alive as it had undertaken to the Delhi High Court back in 2005. The arbitrator later dismissed Ishvakoo's claims (including for discharge of the guarantees), but did not address whether the guarantee amount should nonetheless be returned once the underlying advance was found to have been used. Ishvakoo then went to the High Court under Section 9 seeking return of the Rs. 3.5 crore pending its Section 34 challenge to the award, and won at both the Single Judge and Division Bench stage.
The Supreme Court examined whether an unsuccessful party in arbitration (an "Award Debtor" of sorts, here really the losing claimant) can even seek Section 9 interim relief after losing, and relied on its recent ruling in Home Care Retail Marts v. Haresh N. Sanghavi holding that such relief is legally permissible in rare and compelling cases, though subject to a higher threshold. Applying that standard, the Court found several factors favoured Ishvakoo: no counter-claim had ever been filed by National Projects, the arbitrator's findings did not actually decide whether Ishvakoo was entitled to discharge of the guarantees, and the arbitrator appeared unaware the guarantees had already been encashed before the award was even passed. Since letting National Projects keep the money pending the Section 34 challenge would amount to unjust enrichment and would also conflict with the 2005 High Court order's own terms, the Supreme Court held the High Court had properly exercised its Section 9 discretion. The appeal was dismissed, and National Projects was directed to deposit Rs. 3.5 crore with the High Court Registry within four weeks, to be kept in an interest-bearing fixed deposit until the Section 34 proceedings are decided.
Even a party that has lost in arbitration can, in rare and compelling cases, still seek interim protection from the courts (under Section 9) while its challenge to the award is pending, losing an arbitration does not automatically leave a party without any interim remedy, especially where allowing the other side to keep disputed money would amount to unjust enrichment.
