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 appellants imported foreign-made cigarettes and stored them in a customs bonded warehouse in West Bengal without paying customs duty, then sold some of this stock to the masters of foreign-bound ships as "ship stores." The West Bengal tax authorities treated these sales as taxable local sales under state sales tax law, while the appellants argued the sales were part of the import/export process and therefore exempt from state sales tax. The Tribunal and the Calcutta High Court both ruled against the appellants, who then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, holding that the sales did not qualify as being "in the course of import" or "in the course of export" under Section 5 of the Central Sales Tax Act. The Court explained that for a sale to be exempt as being in the course of import, the sale itself must cause or occasion the import, and the goods must not yet have crossed the "customs frontiers of India" (i.e., left the customs port/station area) at the time of sale. Here, the goods had already been unloaded, cleared beyond the customs station, and stored in a bonded warehouse within West Bengal before being sold, so the sale happened after the goods had effectively crossed the customs frontier, making it a local, taxable sale. The Court also rejected the export argument since the goods were meant for consumption on board the ship, not delivery to a foreign destination.
Goods kept in a bonded customs warehouse (even without customs duty paid) can still be subject to state sales tax once sold, because for tax-exemption purposes what matters is whether the goods have crossed the customs station area, not whether duty has actually been paid: a useful distinction for anyone dealing in imported/bonded goods.
