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.
Pawan Hans Limited, a government helicopter-services company, ran its own Provident Fund Trust Regulations defining "employee" broadly enough to cover anyone paid directly or indirectly by the company, but in practice extended PF benefits only to its "regular" employees, excluding around 270 contractual workers even though they were paid directly without any contractor. A trade union representing these contractual employees petitioned the Bombay High Court, which ruled in their favour and directed the company to enrol them under the EPF Act.
The Supreme Court held that Pawan Hans could not claim exemption from the EPF Act under Section 16, since its own PF Trust Regulations were not extended to all employees as required for that exemption, and that the company's definition of "employee" in its own Regulations already covered the contractual workers because they were paid directly, not through a contractor, and did perennial work. The Court affirmed that the contractual employees were entitled to provident fund benefits, but modified the High Court's order to place them under the company's own PF Trust Regulations (for uniformity with regular employees) rather than directly under the EPF Act, and limited the back-benefit period to January 2017 (when the writ petition was filed) through December 2019, with the company paying 12% interest on its share and employees contributing their share with 6% interest; employees who had already left the company by the date of judgment were excluded.
Long-serving contractual employees who are paid directly by an employer (not through a contractor) cannot be denied provident fund benefits merely because their appointment letters label them "contractual": courts will look at the real nature and continuity of the employment relationship.
