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 petitioner had participated in a tender floated by ONGC for the sale of gas and, after its price bid was due to be opened, sought to modify its bid on the ground that it had made a pricing error. When ONGC proceeded to open the bids without permitting the change and later disqualified the petitioner, it also invoked the bank guarantee furnished as a security deposit. The petitioner's writ petition challenging this forfeiture was dismissed by the Gujarat High Court, leading to this appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that under the specific tender clause (Clause 14.5), ONGC was entitled to forfeit the security deposit if a bidder sought to vary or modify its bid in a manner not acceptable to ONGC during the bid's validity period, and that what the petitioner called a mere "arithmetical correction" was in substance a request to modify its bid price after the bidding process had closed. The Court distinguished the petitioner's reliance on an earlier decision requiring proof of actual loss before forfeiting a security deposit, holding that the specific contractual term governing forfeiture here was validly invoked. The special leave petition was accordingly dismissed, and the High Court's order was upheld.
Bidders in a tender process should carefully verify their bid figures before submission, since attempting to correct a pricing mistake after bids have been opened can be treated as an impermissible unilateral modification of the bid, entitling the tendering authority to forfeit the security deposit under the tender's own terms.
