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.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1073
In circumstantial-evidence cases, forensic and DNA evidence must actually corroborate the alleged crime: a conviction cannot survive where the most crucial scientific evidence, on its own terms, points away from rather than toward the prosecution's theory.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1074
A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires every link in the chain, timeline, witness credibility, forensic matches, and motive, to be proven beyond reasonable doubt; gaps or suppressed evidence at any link entitle the accused to the benefit of the doubt, even in a serious case like a double murder.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8505
Courts will not quash a criminal case merely because the accused has a plausible alibi-type defence; unless that defence is conclusive and undisputed, the matter must be tested through the ordinary trial process.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8547
A private compromise between victim and accused cannot by itself secure quashing of a case involving serious, heinous allegations like attempted murder with a weapon: such matters must proceed to trial regardless of settlement.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8563
Railway Claims Tribunals cannot reject a bona fide passenger's death claim based on speculative inferences when there is no direct evidence of an alternative cause of death; the compensation scheme under the Railways Act is to be interpreted generously in favour of victims' families.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8559
In matrimonial offences, courts can and do quash criminal proceedings once a genuine compromise is verified directly with the complainant, sparing both parties a prolonged and pointless trial.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8541
A co-accused's bail does not automatically extend to another accused where their actual roles in the offence differ materially; delay caused by one's own defence counsel cannot later be used as a ground for bail.
Execution Petition · 2026:DHC:8567
An arbitral award must be adequately stamped before a court can enforce it; courts give only a limited window to cure such defects, after which the award becomes legally unusable until the deficiency is fixed.
Arbitration Petition · 2026:DHC:8555
A genuine settlement reached through mediation renders a pending arbitration-related court petition moot, allowing parties to close out litigation quickly once they resolve their dispute privately.
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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.
A carpenter, Netai Mohanta, went missing after moving with his family to work at a power-house site in North Sikkim. His brother lodged a complaint, and police eventually recovered Netai's body buried beneath the wooden flooring of the rented house where he had been living with the appellant Ranjit Haldar (his employer/landlord) and Netai's own wife, Mamta Mohanta, who was a co-accused. Both were convicted of murder by the trial court and the conviction was upheld by the High Court, leading to this appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals and upheld the conviction. It held that since the house where the body was found was in the exclusive rented possession of Ranjit Haldar, and he offered no explanation for how the body came to be concealed there, the burden shifted to him under Section 106 of the Evidence Act to explain facts especially within his own knowledge. The Court also relied on the wife's extra-judicial confession (corroborated by an independent witness) and rejected arguments about the absence of DNA testing and the non-examination of a translator, finding the identification of the body and the chain of circumstances otherwise complete and convincing.
When a crime occurs in a place under the accused's exclusive control or knowledge, such as his own home, the law allows the burden to shift onto him to explain the circumstances; silence or a false explanation in such situations can itself become strong evidence of guilt.
