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 moreIn 1981, two brothers of the complainant were chased and brutally killed by a mob of villagers armed with swords, spears and lathis, and the complainant himself was seriously injured, after the family had returned to their village following an earlier, unrelated arrest and release on bail. An FIR named about 26 people, including the appellant, and after a first trial was set aside for irregular framing of charges, a retrial convicted the appellant and five others under Sections 148/307 read with 149/302 IPC, with sentences including life imprisonment. The Calcutta High Court upheld the conviction in 2010, and only the present appellant's appeal survived to the Supreme Court, the other appellant having died in the meantime.
The Supreme Court found that the eyewitness testimony of the complainant and another witness was fully corroborated by the medical evidence, including a doctor's opinion that the fatal injuries matched the weapons described, and was consistent with the FIR's contents despite the witnesses being relatives of the deceased. It noted that even the two witnesses who turned "hostile" (did not fully support the prosecution) had not denied the incident occurred and confirmed their presence at the scene. Finding the concurrent findings of the trial court and High Court free of any perversity or serious infirmity, the Court saw no reason to interfere with the well-reasoned conviction and dismissed the appeal.
An appellate court will not re-open a conviction merely because some witnesses are relatives of the victim or because a few prosecution witnesses turn hostile: what matters is whether the surviving evidence, taken together with medical proof, reliably establishes the crime, and courts give strong weight to consistent findings reached by two courts below.
