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 soldier, the late Subedar Bhave, married his second wife Anusuya after his first wife died, but while still married to Anusuya, he also went through a marriage ceremony with the appellant, Shiramabai, in 1981. Bhave and Anusuya later obtained a mutual-consent divorce in 1990, after which Bhave lived with Shiramabai as husband and wife until his death in 2001, and even had the Army officially update his service records to reflect Shiramabai as his wife. When Shiramabai sought family pension after his death, the authorities refused, arguing her marriage was void because it occurred while Bhave was still married to Anusuya.
The Supreme Court applied the well-established legal presumption that when a man and woman live together continuously as husband and wife for a long period, courts presume they were validly married unless there is strong evidence to the contrary. Here, even discounting the years before the 1990 divorce, Bhave and Shiramabai had cohabited openly as spouses for eleven more years until his death, had two children together, and the Army itself had accepted and recorded the relationship. Since Bhave's first co-wife Anusuya never claimed any pension, the Court held the presumption of valid marriage applied and reversed the High Court's decision, restoring the trial court's decree that entitled Shiramabai to family pension and her children to benefits until they turned 25.
Long-term, open cohabitation as husband and wife can create a legal presumption of a valid marriage strong enough to secure pension and inheritance rights, even where the marriage's origins were technically irregular, unless someone comes forward with clear evidence to rebut that presumption.
