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.
In 2004, Raj Kumar Das, a 37-year-old brick-field labourer, was knocked down by a lorry and suffered 100% permanent disability (traumatic paraplegia). He filed a claim under Section 163A of the Motor Vehicles Act, but the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal dismissed it in 2007, holding that he had not proved the accident occurred, and the Calcutta High Court affirmed this dismissal in 2022. He died during the pendency of the case and was represented by his legal heirs before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the lower courts wrongly applied a "proof beyond reasonable doubt" standard instead of the correct "preponderance of probability" standard applicable to these summary, welfare-oriented proceedings, and found the accident and the claimant's injuries were reasonably established. Using its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court departed from the strict formula under Section 163A and computed compensation instead using the broader principles applicable to claims under Section 166 (as laid down in Sarla Verma and Pranay Sethi), given the peculiar facts of the case, while clarifying this approach is not to be treated as a precedent. It set aside the Tribunal and High Court judgments, allowed the appeal, and directed the insurer to deposit Rs. 14,90,000/- with 6% interest from the date of filing the claim, within three months.
Motor accident compensation claims are meant to be decided on a lenient "probability" standard, not a strict criminal-style proof standard, and lack of legal awareness by a genuine accident victim should not defeat a just claim once the basic facts are established.
