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 moreAfter 25 years of marriage and three grown children, a husband sought divorce from his wife on the ground of mental cruelty, alleging she had falsely accused him of an illicit relationship with a family friend's wife and had taken police/legal action against him over a disputed house. The wife denied the allegations, countering that the husband himself had accused her of an affair with a driver who, the trial court found, did not actually exist, and that her police complaint and lawsuit were legitimate steps to protect her rights in the property dispute. The trial court dismissed the husband's divorce petition, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court reversed that decision and dissolved the marriage, reasoning that the marriage was irretrievably broken down; the husband died during the appeal, and his legal heirs continued the case.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had wrongly proceeded on the preconceived notion that the marriage was irretrievably broken down, a ground that is not available under the Hindu Marriage Act, and had effectively treated the husband's unproven allegations against the wife as established facts. The Court found that the wife's police complaint and civil suit were legitimate legal measures to protect her property rights rather than conduct amounting to cruelty, relying on its earlier ruling in Ramchander vs. Ananta that lawful legal recourse used as a shield is not cruelty. Weighing the evidence afresh, the Court agreed with the trial court that the alleged incidents amounted, at most, to misunderstandings between a long-married couple and did not meet the threshold of mental cruelty required to dissolve the marriage, especially since the husband had made allegations against the wife involving a fictitious person.
"Irretrievable breakdown of marriage" is not by itself a legal ground for divorce in India, and taking lawful steps such as filing a police complaint or civil suit to protect one's own rights cannot, without more, be treated as mental cruelty against the other spouse.
