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 appellant (P. Daivasigamani) agreed on 05.10.1989 to sell about 1 acre of land in Ayanambakkam, Chennai to the respondent (S. Sambandan) for Rs. 6,50,000, receiving Rs. 50,000 as earnest money, with the sale to be completed within six months. The respondent repeatedly asked the appellant to execute the sale deed, sent a formal notice (which was refused), and even published public notices warning others against dealing with the property, but the appellant never performed his side of the bargain. The respondent sued for specific performance in the Trial Court, which instead only ordered refund of the earnest money with interest; the Madras High Court reversed this on appeal and granted specific performance and an injunction, which the original seller then challenged before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's finding that the respondent-buyer had duly pleaded and proved his continuous "readiness and willingness" to perform the contract as required under Section 16(c) of the Specific Relief Act, relying on the three-judge bench precedent in Syed Dastagir, which holds that such compliance must be judged in substance, not by rigid technical wording. The Court found no illegality in the High Court's judgment and confirmed the decree of specific performance. However, recognising the steep rise in property prices since the 1989 agreement and that the seller had enjoyed possession of the land throughout the decades-long litigation, the Court modified the relief: the buyer was directed to deposit an additional Rs. 1 crore (over and above earlier deposits) within eight weeks, after which the seller must execute the sale deed and could withdraw the deposited amount.
A buyer seeking specific performance of a property sale agreement must clearly plead and prove continuous readiness and willingness to perform, but even where a decades-old decree is upheld, courts can mould the final relief (such as ordering an additional payment) to account for changed circumstances like a sharp rise in property value, balancing fairness to both sides.
