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 moreIn 1997, the dead body of one Balwant, bearing 13 incised wounds, was found stuffed in a gunny bag in a water tank in Hisar, Haryana. His father lodged an FIR alleging that Shanti Devi (a tenant occupying part of Balwant's house), her son Rajbir, and one Veena (with whom Balwant allegedly had an affair) had murdered him over a dispute about vacating the house. The trial court convicted all three of murder based purely on circumstantial evidence (motive, "last seen together" testimony, extra-judicial confessions, and recoveries of weapons) and the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld Shanti Devi's conviction on appeal (Veena died before her appeal was decided, and Rajbir did not appeal further).
The Supreme Court applied the classic "five golden principles" for circumstantial-evidence cases from Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra and found every link in the prosecution's chain unreliable. The informant's motive theory was self-contradictory (he described Shanti Devi as both an illegal occupant and a rent-paying tenant) and the deceased's own wife, the person best placed to know about any hostility, was never examined as a witness. The alleged extra-judicial confessions were made to witnesses with no prior connection to the accused and were disbelieved as concocted; one purported confession by co-accused Veena was inadmissible under Sections 25-26 of the Evidence Act because it was made in police presence. The recovered weapons showed no human blood on forensic (FSL) testing, destroying the recovery evidence. With every circumstance falling apart, the Court acquitted Shanti Devi and, invoking its suo motu power recognized in Sahadevan v. State of Tamil Nadu, extended the same acquittal to non-appealing co-accused Rajbir since the prosecution's entire case was disbelieved.
A criminal conviction built only on circumstantial evidence must form a complete, unbroken chain pointing solely to guilt: contradictory witness testimony, uncorroborated "extra-judicial confessions," and forensic reports that don't actually implicate the accused (e.g., no blood found on recovered weapons) can each independently unravel the prosecution's case, and appellate courts can even extend an acquittal to a co-accused who never appealed.
