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.
When India imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, all domestic and international flights were suspended, leaving passengers whose tickets were cancelled unable to get a cash refund: airlines instead offered only a "credit shell" valid for future travel. Several petitioners, including a legal-aid group for migrant workers, an air passengers' association, a retired army officer and his wife, and a travel agents' federation, challenged this practice as illegal and contrary to the Civil Aviation Requirements, which (they argued) make refund the passenger's choice, not the airline's default.
The Supreme Court did not strike down the airlines' credit-shell practice outright, but instead worked out a detailed, balanced set of directions after hearing the Ministry of Civil Aviation, airlines, travel agents, and passenger groups. It held that tickets booked and meant for travel during the lockdown period must be refunded in full and immediately; tickets for travel after the lockdown are governed by the ordinary Civil Aviation Requirements; and in other cases, if airlines cannot immediately refund due to financial distress, they must issue a transferable credit shell (redeemable until 31 March 2021) with built-in monthly interest-like enhancement to compensate passengers for the delay. The Court explicitly rejected the airlines' request to extend the credit-shell deadline to 2022, noting passengers had already parted with their own money in good faith.
Even during a genuine national crisis, a business cannot simply withhold a consumer's money indefinitely: courts can step in to craft practical, time-bound solutions that balance real financial hardship on one side against the basic right of a consumer to get their money back (with compensation for delay) on the other.
