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.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1073
In circumstantial-evidence cases, forensic and DNA evidence must actually corroborate the alleged crime: a conviction cannot survive where the most crucial scientific evidence, on its own terms, points away from rather than toward the prosecution's theory.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1074
A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires every link in the chain, timeline, witness credibility, forensic matches, and motive, to be proven beyond reasonable doubt; gaps or suppressed evidence at any link entitle the accused to the benefit of the doubt, even in a serious case like a double murder.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8505
Courts will not quash a criminal case merely because the accused has a plausible alibi-type defence; unless that defence is conclusive and undisputed, the matter must be tested through the ordinary trial process.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8547
A private compromise between victim and accused cannot by itself secure quashing of a case involving serious, heinous allegations like attempted murder with a weapon: such matters must proceed to trial regardless of settlement.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8563
Railway Claims Tribunals cannot reject a bona fide passenger's death claim based on speculative inferences when there is no direct evidence of an alternative cause of death; the compensation scheme under the Railways Act is to be interpreted generously in favour of victims' families.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8559
In matrimonial offences, courts can and do quash criminal proceedings once a genuine compromise is verified directly with the complainant, sparing both parties a prolonged and pointless trial.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8541
A co-accused's bail does not automatically extend to another accused where their actual roles in the offence differ materially; delay caused by one's own defence counsel cannot later be used as a ground for bail.
Execution Petition · 2026:DHC:8567
An arbitral award must be adequately stamped before a court can enforce it; courts give only a limited window to cure such defects, after which the award becomes legally unusable until the deficiency is fixed.
Arbitration Petition · 2026:DHC:8555
A genuine settlement reached through mediation renders a pending arbitration-related court petition moot, allowing parties to close out litigation quickly once they resolve their dispute privately.
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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.
Shyam Sahni sued his nephew Arjun Prakash and others over ownership and possession of floors of a family residential property in Friends Colony, Delhi, after documents purportedly transferred parts of the property away from his side of the family. While the suit was pending, Arjun Prakash and his late father repeatedly gave the court written undertakings to clear a bank charge created on the property but failed to honour them. The trial judge eventually directed Arjun Prakash to deposit his passport and not leave the country, to ensure his presence and compliance; the Delhi High Court's Division Bench set that direction aside and ordered the passport returned.
The Supreme Court held that the trial judge had only directed surrender of the passport (not "impounded" it) purely to secure Arjun Prakash's presence after he broke multiple undertakings to the court, including filing an affidavit falsely claiming he still lived in Delhi when he had actually moved to Singapore. Relying on precedent allowing courts to restrict a contemnor's travel to secure compliance, the Court found the Division Bench wrongly treated this as an unjustified restraint on personal liberty. It restored the trial judge's order, allowed the appeal, and directed the long-pending 2008 civil suit to be completed within nine months.
A court can direct a litigant who has repeatedly broken written undertakings to deposit their passport to ensure their presence and compliance: this is different from a punitive "impounding" of a passport and is a legitimate tool to make sure a person stays available to face the consequences of an ongoing case.
