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.
A shop at Baba Kharag Singh Marg market in New Delhi was originally allotted under a government license that banned subletting, but the allottee's family sublet and then transferred it to an occupant in violation of that condition. When the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) later took over administration of the market and ordered the occupant's eviction, the occupant argued she should be allowed to regularize her ownership under policies applicable to other markets. The case ultimately covered four connected appeals arising from a common High Court order that had sided with the occupant.
The Supreme Court held that NDMC only administered the markets as a delegate of the Union Government and could only apply the Union's own regularization policy, not a more lenient one of its own, and the occupant did not qualify under the Union's actual cut-off-date policy (occupation before 20.10.1989) or the specific 14-markets scheme (which excluded this market). It also found that the original license was clearly violated through an undisclosed partnership and transfer. The Court set aside both the High Court's Division Bench and Single Bench rulings and restored the original eviction order, while giving the occupants until 30 November 2021 to vacate.
Licensees who sublet or transfer government-allotted premises in breach of license conditions cannot later claim regularization rights meant for a different category of occupants, and a local body administering property on behalf of the central government cannot apply more generous rules than the government's own policy permits.
