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 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe appellant was one of eight people accused of murdering a young man, Sankar, in 1996 following a dispute linked to an earlier marriage proposal. The victim's mother, who witnessed the attack, testified that the accused chased her son into a paddy field and fatally stabbed and slashed him with knives and sickles ("aruval"). The trial court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to life imprisonment, and the Madras High Court upheld the conviction; the appellant then appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging the reliability of the sole eyewitness and pointing to a delay in lodging the complaint.
The Supreme Court held that the eyewitness mother's testimony was credible, consistent, and corroborated by the medical evidence (eleven incised wounds matching the described weapons), and that minor inconsistencies between oral and medical evidence do not discredit otherwise reliable direct evidence. The Court found the roughly two-and-a-half-hour delay in lodging the FIR was adequately explained by the trauma of witnessing her son's murder and the time needed to reach the police station, and that absence or weakness of motive does not matter where direct eyewitness evidence is clear. Finding no infirmity in the concurrent findings of the trial court and High Court, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and directed the appellant to surrender within two weeks to serve his sentence.
Courts will not discard a credible eyewitness's testimony merely because of a short, explainable delay in filing the FIR or minor gaps with medical evidence, especially when the witness is a close relative with no motive to falsely implicate the accused.
