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 moreTwo persons were found murdered in a Delhi house in 2009, with jewellery and cash missing. The appellant, a taxi driver, was arrested along with two co-accused after one of them led police to him; a blood-stained knife and shirt were allegedly recovered from his room, and the police claimed his fingerprints matched a "chance print" found at the crime scene. The trial court convicted him of murder and robbery, and the Delhi High Court upheld the conviction; he then appealed to the Supreme Court.
Justice Indu Malhotra's judgment found that the chain of circumstantial evidence was incomplete and unreliable: there were contradictions among police witnesses about where key items were recovered, no independent witnesses were present for the recoveries, and the prosecution's case did not unerringly point to the appellant's guilt. Justice Ashok Bhushan, in a separate concurring opinion, additionally examined whether fingerprint samples taken from an accused in police custody without a magistrate's order were admissible under Sections 4 and 5 of the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, given that no state rules had been framed under that Act, even so, he agreed the overall evidence fell short of proving guilt. Both judges held the conviction could not stand and acquitted the appellant.
A criminal conviction based on circumstantial evidence requires an unbroken, fully proven chain of facts pointing only to guilt; gaps, contradictions among witnesses, or the absence of independent corroboration for key recoveries can be fatal to the prosecution's case even where some evidence (like a fingerprint match) exists.
