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 moreAn 8-year-old girl, who trusted the accused as a family-like "uncle," was lured away with the promise of chocolates and was later found dead with injuries. The trial court convicted the accused of murder and child sexual assault under the POCSO Act and sentenced him to death; the Rajasthan High Court confirmed this on both the conviction and the death sentence.
The Supreme Court found the circumstantial evidence (last-seen-together, witness testimony, and the accused's own silence under questioning) sufficient to sustain the murder conviction. However, it found the medical evidence did not support the sexual assault charge, the post-mortem showed no injury to the genital organs and no signs consistent with penetrative assault, so it acquitted the accused of the POCSO offence, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Because the sexual-assault conviction fell away and the accused had no criminal history and was young, the Court held this was not a "rarest of rare" case, and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment for the murder conviction alone.
A death sentence can be set aside on appeal if the evidence does not actually support all of the aggravating charges it was originally based on: courts must independently verify that medical/forensic evidence supports each specific charge before upholding the most severe convictions and sentences.
