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.
A batch of cases, including Siddaraju's own appeal arising from a Central Administrative Tribunal order in Bangalore, came before a three-judge bench on a reference asking whether persons with disabilities under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 can be given reservation in promotion, not just in direct recruitment. The reference arose because of a perceived conflict with the general rule against reservation in promotion laid down in the Indra Sawhney case. Siddaraju's individual matter involved the Tribunal applying an old 2005 government policy without regard to later Supreme Court rulings favouring reservation for the disabled.
The Court held that the bar on reservation in promotion from Indra Sawhney applies only to caste-based "vertical" reservations under Article 16(4), and does not apply to disability-based "horizontal" reservations under Article 16(1); it reaffirmed its earlier rulings (National Federation of the Blind and Rajeev Kumar Gupta) that persons with disabilities are entitled to 3% reservation in promotion as well as recruitment, in Group A and B posts too. Applying this to Siddaraju's own appeal (Civil Appeal No. 1567 of 2017), the Court set aside both the Tribunal's and the Karnataka High Court's orders, which had followed the outdated 2005 office memorandum, holding that the case must instead be governed by the Court's three reservation-for-disabled judgments. The connected appeals and a review petition were also disposed of in line with this ruling, with some appeals allowed, some dismissed, based on their individual facts.
Reservation protections for persons with disabilities in government jobs extend to promotions, not merely initial recruitment, and government offices cannot rely on an old circular that has been superseded by binding Supreme Court rulings.
