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.
In 1973, the appellant's father, as guardian, sold a plot of land owned in the minor appellant's name to one Rudramma via a registered Sale Deed, and on the same day, a separate unregistered "Reconveyance Agreement" was signed giving the vendor five years to repurchase the property for the same price. After that window lapsed without repurchase, the land changed hands again, and in 1987 the appellant sued claiming the original transaction was really a mortgage (not an outright sale) and sought to redeem it. Both the trial court and the Karnataka High Court rejected this, holding it was a genuine sale with only a personal right of repurchase (not a mortgage), and also found the suit barred by limitation.
The Supreme Court examined Section 58(c) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, which requires that a "mortgage by conditional sale" be evidenced in the same document that effects the sale. If the buy-back condition is in a separate document, as it was here, the law presumes it is not a mortgage but a sale with a right of repurchase. Reviewing the actual wording of both documents (the Sale Deed used clear sale language ("sold," "absolute owner") with possession transferred immediately, while the Reconveyance Agreement only gave a personal right to repurchase within five years), the Court agreed this was an outright sale, not a mortgage, and that the right to repurchase had simply lapsed after five years. The appeal was dismissed, upholding the High Court.
When a sale and a promise to buy back the same property are recorded in two separate documents, the law treats it as an ordinary sale with a personal (and time-limited) right of repurchase, not a mortgage giving an indefinite right of redemption, so anyone relying on such an arrangement must exercise the repurchase right strictly within its stated time limit.
