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 2018, Parliament inserted Section 18A into the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, specifically to undo the Supreme Court's own 2018 ruling in Dr. Subhash Kashinath Mahajan, which had required a preliminary police inquiry before registering an FIR and prior approval before arresting an accused under the Act, and had allowed anticipatory bail in such cases. Section 18A removed these safeguards, restoring the Act's original bar on preliminary inquiry and anticipatory bail. The petitioners challenged this amendment as unconstitutional, arguing it was arbitrary and violated Article 21 (right to life and liberty) by removing protections against false implication.
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the 2018 Amendment and Section 18A, noting that the Court itself had already recalled the Subhash Kashinath Mahajan directions (the ones the amendment was designed to override) in separate review proceedings in October 2019, making much of the amendment's challenge academic. The Court reaffirmed that the bar on anticipatory bail under Section 18 serves a legitimate purpose given the continuing social reality of caste-based discrimination and atrocities in India, and does not violate Articles 14 or 21, relying on its earlier precedent in State of M.P. v. Ram Kishna Balothia. It clarified that courts retain the inherent power under Section 482 CrPC to quash proceedings or grant pre-arrest protection in the rare case where a complaint discloses no prima facie offence at all, preserving a safety valve against misuse without reintroducing a general preliminary-inquiry requirement. The writ petitions were accordingly disposed of, with the challenge to the amendment rejected.
Special legal protections for historically disadvantaged groups (like the bar on anticipatory bail in SC/ST atrocity cases) can validly override general criminal procedure safeguards without violating constitutional rights, though courts retain a narrow, exceptional power to step in only where a complaint plainly discloses no offence at all.
