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 moreThe petitioner was convicted of raping a 6-year-old child, based on concurrent findings of fact by the trial court and the appellate courts below, including the victim's own testimony and eyewitness testimony from her mother. He challenged the conviction before the Supreme Court, arguing (among other things) that he could not physically have committed the act because he has only one hand, and that the charge framed was only under the lesser provision of Section 376(1) of the Indian Penal Code rather than the aggravated Section 376(2)(f) (which carries a 10-year minimum sentence).
On an earlier date the Court had asked the petitioner's counsel to produce the actual charge sheet, and upon review found the charge was in fact framed under Section 376 generally, which includes Section 376(2). The Court agreed with the courts below that the "one-handed, therefore physically impossible" defense had no merit, noting the petitioner was over 18, found to be potent, had absconded for 15 days after the incident, and had incriminating evidence (a lungi) recovered. However, since the State had not filed its own appeal seeking an enhanced sentence, and the incident had occurred roughly 20 years before this order, the Court chose not to examine whether the enhanced minimum punishment under Section 376(2) should apply, and simply dismissed the Special Leave Petition, leaving the conviction and sentence as decided by the courts below intact.
Concurrent factual findings by the trial and appellate courts in cases of child sexual assault carry significant weight before the Supreme Court, and a claimed physical disability is not, by itself, a defense once lower courts have already examined and rejected it on the evidence; the Supreme Court also generally refrains from enhancing a sentence on its own when the prosecution itself has not sought that enhancement.
