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.
The Ministry of Environment granted environmental clearance for a new Greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram, Visakhapatnam, on 14 August 2017. The appellant, an affected local resident, filed an appeal before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 13 November 2017, along with an application to condone the delay, explaining that the voluminous technical clearance papers had to be sent to experts and lawyers in Delhi. The NGT rejected the delay-condonation application and, consequently, dismissed her appeal as time-barred.
The Supreme Court held that while the general Limitation Act does not apply to appeals under Section 16 of the NGT Act (which has its own 30-day period extendable by 60 days), Section 10 of the General Clauses Act does apply, so a deadline falling on a holiday is automatically extended to the next working day. More importantly, the Court found the NGT's refusal to condone the delay was an erroneous, overly narrow exercise of discretion: the appellant's explanation (needing time to get technical and legal advice on voluminous clearance documents) amounted to sufficient cause, and nothing in the NGT Act bars a directly affected person from access to the tribunal merely because she also has other disputes (e.g., over land acquisition) with the project. The Court set aside the NGT's order, condoned the delay, and directed the NGT to hear the appeal on merits.
Delay in approaching an environmental tribunal should be judged liberally where the explanation is bona fide and the subject matter (here, an environmental clearance with potentially irreversible impact) is serious: technical complexity and the practical need to consult experts can themselves constitute "sufficient cause" for condonation.
