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 moreRam Narain had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 302 IPC for a 1976 murder, and his earlier SLP and review petition challenging the conviction had both been dismissed by the Supreme Court back in 2004. Years later, after already serving more than 10 years in prison, he filed an application before the Juvenile Justice Board claiming he had been a minor (15 years, 11 months, 26 days old, per a school transfer certificate) at the time of the offence; the Board accepted this and declared him a juvenile offender in November 2013. He then approached the Supreme Court seeking release on the strength of this juvenility finding.
The Supreme Court held that a plea of juvenility can be raised at any stage, before any court, regardless of how long after conviction, relying on its own precedents (Upendra Pradhan v. State of Orissa, Ajay Kumar v. State of M.P., Hakim v. State, and Lakhan Lal v. State of Bihar). Since the Juvenile Justice Board had already determined, through the proper procedure, that the petitioner was under 18 at the time of the offence, and he had already spent far longer in custody than the three-year maximum detention period prescribed for juveniles under Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, the Court set aside the conviction and sentence passed by the Trial Court and High Court and directed his immediate release.
Under Indian law, a claim of having been a minor at the time of an offence can be raised at any point, even decades after conviction, and if proven, entitles the person to release once they have exceeded the maximum detention period applicable to juveniles, regardless of how long they already spent in adult prison under the original sentence.
