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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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.
The appellant, a Director of Projtech Engineering Private Limited, was summoned along with the company in a cheque-bounce complaint under Sections 138 and 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act after three company cheques totaling Rs. 50 lakhs were dishonoured. Her revision petition against the summoning order was dismissed by the Additional Sessions Judge on the ground that, as a signatory to a Board Resolution, she was involved in the company's day-to-day management. The Delhi High Court then declined to quash the summons under its inherent powers under Section 482 CrPC, holding that having already pursued an unsuccessful revision on the same grounds, her Section 482 petition was confined to a narrower jurisdiction. She appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court's reasoning, that a Section 482 CrPC petition is barred or narrowly circumscribed merely because a revision petition on the same grounds had already been dismissed, was legally incorrect, relying on the three-judge bench decision in Krishnan v. Krishnaveni and later precedents (Dhariwal Tobacco Products, Prabhu Chawla) which establish that the inherent power of the High Court under Section 482 is a separate, statutorily-saved power that survives even where revisional remedies are barred or already exhausted. Applying this, and having reviewed whether the appellant was genuinely shown to be in charge of the company's day-to-day affairs, the Court found fault with the High Court's approach and set aside its judgment. The proceedings against the appellant were accordingly quashed, with the Court clarifying that this ruling concerned only her case and would not affect the trial of the co-accused.
Filing (and losing) a criminal revision petition does not by itself bar a person from separately invoking the High Court's inherent powers under Section 482 CrPC to quash proceedings: the two remedies are legally distinct. Directors of a company are not automatically liable under the NI Act merely for signing a board resolution; courts must specifically examine whether they were actually in charge of and responsible for the company's day-to-day business.
