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 moreA man was hacked to death in front of his teenage son, allegedly the result of a bitter sibling business rivalry in which the deceased had sided with one brother against the accused. Of 87 witnesses produced at trial, 71, including the key eyewitnesses, turned hostile, and the Trial Court acquitted all the accused for lack of evidence. The High Court reversed this and convicted six accused for murder and conspiracy, relying heavily on the investigating officers' testimony about what witnesses had earlier told the police.
The Supreme Court restored the acquittal, holding that the High Court had wrongly used witnesses' Section 161 CrPC statements (recorded during investigation) as if they were substantive evidence, when the law allows such statements to be used only to contradict a witness, not to prove guilt when the witness disowns them in court. It also found the "recoveries" of weapons, clothing, and cash were either not properly linked to the crime or were confession-based statements barred under Sections 25-26 of the Evidence Act. With no eyewitness identifying the accused in court and no legally admissible chain of evidence, the presumption of innocence, reinforced by the original acquittal, was not displaced.
A conviction cannot be built on a police officer's account of what hostile witnesses supposedly said during investigation; once witnesses recant in court, those investigation statements can only be used to contradict them, not as proof of guilt, however troubling the underlying crime may be.
