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.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1066
Courts will not infer a concluded oral contract for the sale of immovable property just because the other side's witnesses seemed evasive: the party seeking specific performance must independently and affirmatively prove every essential term was genuinely agreed.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1065
Even in serious, high-value corruption cases, prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be used as a substitute for punishment when the trial is unlikely to conclude soon and the evidence is already secured: bail remains the touchstone principle under Article 21's personal liberty protection.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1067
Preventive detention cannot be used as a backdoor way to keep someone in custody once the ordinary criminal process, including bail, has already run its course on the same facts; the detaining authority must show a genuine, independent risk of future harm, not just recycle the criminal case file.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1068
In land acquisition disputes, courts will readily restore a uniform, fair market rate across similarly-situated parcels, but ancillary compensation heads (like moveable equipment such as tubewells) still require the claimant to prove their case with admissible evidence, not private reports whose authors were never examined in court.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8447
If you are injured while genuinely trying to board or exit a train, you are very likely covered under railway "untoward incident" compensation law, even if you technically hadn't fully boarded yet: courts read this protection broadly in favour of passengers, and contemporaneous official records (station logs, police diary entries) carry more weight than a statement taken from you much later.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8404
Courts will not entertain vague, unsubstantiated allegations of judicial bias, and a request to combine cases becomes moot once the other related proceedings have already concluded: genuine grievances about trial delay or procedure must be backed by specific, demonstrable facts, not just repeated litigation.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8403
Anticipatory bail can be granted even in matrimonial cases involving serious sexual-offence allegations where there is unexplained delay in reporting, no evidence substantiating the need for custodial interrogation, and the investigating agency's own conduct (e.g., undocumented "verbal" notices) fails to justify arrest, though this is assessed only for bail purposes, not as a finding on guilt.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8407
In family property disputes, signing a Relinquishment Deed acknowledging receipt of consideration, and then waiting years without challenging it or pursuing your claimed share, will make it very difficult to later prove you were never actually paid; courts expect contemporaneous action (a legal notice, a suit) and corroborating evidence, not delayed assertions alone.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8401
A tenant who claims to have paid a large sum toward an informal "mortgage" or side arrangement must be able to prove it with solid evidence (receipts, corroborating witnesses): bare assertions, especially when contradicted by one's own family members under cross-examination, will not defeat a landlord's claim for rent and possession.
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NEET-PG 2022 registration closed on 25 March 2022 and results were declared on 1 June 2022. On 21 September 2022, the Maharashtra government issued an admissions brochure for postgraduate medical courses, which stated that in-service reservation would apply "as per any change made by government from time to time." On 26 September 2022, after the admissions schedule had begun, the state issued a Government Resolution reserving 20% of state-quota seats for in-service candidates. Aspiring (non-in-service) candidates challenged this before the Bombay High Court, arguing that introducing/expanding the in-service quota after the admission process began impermissibly changed the "rules of the game" midstream; the High Court rejected the challenge, and the candidates appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Court traced the background: a Constitution Bench in Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association had settled that states have the constitutional competence to reserve seats for in-service doctors in postgraduate courses, and Maharashtra's in-service reservation for degree courses (previously in doubt due to an earlier three-judge ruling) was restored by that decision, leading the state to issue the 26 September 2022 resolution. Unlike the facts in Dr. Prerit Sharma (where the brochure expressly said there would be no reservation, later reversed by a government order), Maharashtra's brochure from the outset expressly warned candidates that in-service reservation policy could change per government resolutions issued "from time to time", so no settled rule was altered after the process began. Relying also on Neil Aurelio Nunes (OBC Reservation), the Court held that because candidates were on notice that the reservation details could be updated later, the 26 September resolution did not change the rules of the game mid-process. The Court also noted that any in-service seats left unfilled would flow back to general-category candidates per the brochure, mitigating prejudice. The appeal was dismissed, affirming the High Court's judgment.
A reservation or eligibility policy announced or modified after an admission process has begun does not violate the "no change in rules mid-game" principle if the governing brochure/rules had, from the very start, expressly put candidates on notice that such details were subject to later government orders.
