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 1066
Courts will not infer a concluded oral contract for the sale of immovable property just because the other side's witnesses seemed evasive: the party seeking specific performance must independently and affirmatively prove every essential term was genuinely agreed.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1065
Even in serious, high-value corruption cases, prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be used as a substitute for punishment when the trial is unlikely to conclude soon and the evidence is already secured: bail remains the touchstone principle under Article 21's personal liberty protection.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1067
Preventive detention cannot be used as a backdoor way to keep someone in custody once the ordinary criminal process, including bail, has already run its course on the same facts; the detaining authority must show a genuine, independent risk of future harm, not just recycle the criminal case file.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1068
In land acquisition disputes, courts will readily restore a uniform, fair market rate across similarly-situated parcels, but ancillary compensation heads (like moveable equipment such as tubewells) still require the claimant to prove their case with admissible evidence, not private reports whose authors were never examined in court.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8447
If you are injured while genuinely trying to board or exit a train, you are very likely covered under railway "untoward incident" compensation law, even if you technically hadn't fully boarded yet: courts read this protection broadly in favour of passengers, and contemporaneous official records (station logs, police diary entries) carry more weight than a statement taken from you much later.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8404
Courts will not entertain vague, unsubstantiated allegations of judicial bias, and a request to combine cases becomes moot once the other related proceedings have already concluded: genuine grievances about trial delay or procedure must be backed by specific, demonstrable facts, not just repeated litigation.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8403
Anticipatory bail can be granted even in matrimonial cases involving serious sexual-offence allegations where there is unexplained delay in reporting, no evidence substantiating the need for custodial interrogation, and the investigating agency's own conduct (e.g., undocumented "verbal" notices) fails to justify arrest, though this is assessed only for bail purposes, not as a finding on guilt.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8407
In family property disputes, signing a Relinquishment Deed acknowledging receipt of consideration, and then waiting years without challenging it or pursuing your claimed share, will make it very difficult to later prove you were never actually paid; courts expect contemporaneous action (a legal notice, a suit) and corroborating evidence, not delayed assertions alone.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8401
A tenant who claims to have paid a large sum toward an informal "mortgage" or side arrangement must be able to prove it with solid evidence (receipts, corroborating witnesses): bare assertions, especially when contradicted by one's own family members under cross-examination, will not defeat a landlord's claim for rent and possession.
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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.
On 26 September 2013, the appellant, then aged 58, allegedly stabbed Nandkishor Korde to death and caused stab injuries to three others during an altercation. He was convicted of murder under Section 302 IPC and of attempted murder under Section 307 IPC by the trial court, with sentences of life imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment respectively; the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) upheld the conviction. The appellant challenged this before the Supreme Court, arguing that key eyewitnesses present at the scene were never examined and that his advanced age made the prosecution's version of events improbable.
The Supreme Court found that the prosecution had failed to examine independent witnesses who were reportedly present at the scene, and held that the circumstances made it improbable that the appellant, then in his late fifties, single-handedly overpowered several younger men without provocation. The Court concluded the trial court had not properly considered whether the appellant may have acted in the reasonable apprehension of danger to himself, and held he was entitled to the benefit of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC (sudden fight, no premeditation, heat of passion, no undue advantage taken). Accordingly, the murder conviction and life sentence were set aside, and the appellant was instead convicted under Section 304 Part II IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). Since he had already served over nine years in custody, that period was treated as adequate punishment and he was ordered released forthwith. The Court also noted, without issuing a formal direction given the lapse of time, that the police ought to have investigated the injuries suffered by the appellant himself.
A murder conviction can be downgraded on appeal where the circumstances suggest a sudden fight without premeditation rather than a calculated killing, and courts must weigh the absence of key eyewitnesses and the plausibility of the prosecution's version rather than accepting it at face value.
