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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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.
The Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation had an agreement with Sanman Rice Mills under which the Corporation supplied paddy for milling and the Mill was to return the processed rice. After a shortfall worth over Rs. 7 crore in the rice returned, and partial recovery through cheques, the dispute went to arbitration. The Arbitrator awarded about Rs. 2.67 crore to the Corporation with 12% interest. The Mill's challenge to this award under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act was dismissed, but the Punjab & Haryana High Court, in a further appeal under Section 37, set aside both the Section 34 order and the underlying arbitral award itself.
The Supreme Court held that an appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration Act is not an ordinary appeal: its scope is confined to the same narrow grounds available under Section 34 (such as fraud, conflict with public policy, or patent illegality), and courts cannot reappraise evidence or substitute their own view for that of the arbitrator merely because a different view seems better. Since the arbitral award here was reasoned and not shown to be perverse or against public policy, the High Court had no basis to overturn it. The Court restored the arbitral award and allowed the Corporation's appeal with no order as to costs.
Once parties choose arbitration, courts have very limited power to second-guess the arbitrator's decision: an award can only be disturbed on narrow legal grounds (like fraud or perversity), never simply because a court thinks it could have decided the dispute differently.
