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.
14543 more judgements for members
You're seeing the newest cases. Log in — it's free — to keep scrolling, search by name or judge, and filter by court or legal area.
Log in to see moreA young married woman died within about 13 months of her marriage; her husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law (the appellants) were tried for dowry death under Section 304-B IPC after her father alleged a dowry demand of Rs. 10 lakh and death by poisoning. The trial court (Sessions Judge) acquitted the appellants, finding the dowry-demand testimony riddled with contradictions and the poisoning theory unproven, since no poison was found on the body, in the house, or in forensic tests, and medical evidence suggested a possible tuberculosis-related natural death. On the State's appeal, the Uttarakhand High Court reversed the acquittal and convicted the appellants, sentencing them to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court restored the trial court's acquittal, holding that an appellate court can only overturn an acquittal where there are "very substantial and compelling reasons," which did not exist here. It found the witnesses' accounts of the dowry demand mutually contradictory, noted the complete absence of any physical or forensic evidence of poisoning despite three essential legal tests for poisoning cases (death by poison, possession of poison, opportunity to administer it), and observed that the High Court had ignored medical evidence suggesting a pre-existing illness as a possible cause of death. The appeals were allowed, the conviction set aside, and the appellants ordered released.
An appellate court cannot overturn a trial court's acquittal merely because another view of the evidence is possible: it must point to compelling, specific errors, and in a dowry-death case the prosecution must still prove the death was actually caused unnaturally, not merely assert it.
