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 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe appellant, employed as a peon at a United Commercial Bank branch in Himachal Pradesh, was informally assigned clerical duties at the savings-account counter due to staff shortage. He received deposit money from account holders but, instead of crediting it to their accounts, pocketed it and later created fake credit entries so that withdrawals by those customers would still go through, causing the bank a loss of about Rs. 38,500. After an internal enquiry and FIR, he was convicted by the trial court and the High Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC provisions for criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts.
The Supreme Court rejected the argument that the appellant could not be held responsible merely because no formal office order had assigned him clerical duties, since a bank officer's testimony confirmed he was in fact performing that role. On the key challenge, that his handwritten confessional statements to two senior bank officers were coerced, the Court reiterated that an extra-judicial confession, while ordinarily requiring caution, can found a conviction if voluntary and believable, and need not always be independently corroborated. Since no suggestion of threat or inducement had even been put to the officers during cross-examination, the confessions were rightly treated as voluntary and the concurrent findings of guilt were upheld. The Court did, however, reduce the sentence under Section 409 IPC from five years to three years given the lapse of time since the 1992-94 offence.
A voluntary, credible confession made to a person in authority (even without a judge present) can be legally sufficient to convict, and an accused who does not challenge the voluntariness of such a confession during cross-examination will find it very difficult to challenge it later on appeal.
