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.
Ssangyong, a Korean construction company, had a highway construction contract with NHAI that included a formula-based price adjustment clause tied to a government-published Wholesale Price Index (WPI) series. When the government discontinued that old WPI series and replaced it with a new one, NHAI unilaterally issued a circular substituting a different (linking-factor) formula for calculating price adjustments, which Ssangyong disputed. In the ensuing arbitration, a majority of the three-member tribunal accepted NHAI's substituted formula, while one arbitrator dissented and awarded Ssangyong its claim based on the original contractual formula; Ssangyong's challenge to the majority award failed before both a Single Judge and a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court.
The Supreme Court held that a court's power to set aside an arbitral award under Section 34 is narrow and does not allow re-examining the merits of a dispute, but an award can still be struck down if it breaches fundamental principles of justice: such as by effectively rewriting the parties' contract. It found that the majority award had done exactly that: by applying NHAI's unilateral circular, it substituted a workable contractual formula with one the parties never agreed to, unilaterally imposing a new bargain on an unwilling party, which the Court held "shocks the conscience" and is impermissible even under the limited grounds for interference. Rather than remit the dispute for a fresh arbitration (which would cause delay, against the Arbitration Act's goal of speedy resolution), the Court used its special constitutional power under Article 142 to directly uphold the minority arbitrator's award, awarding Ssangyong its claimed price adjustment plus interest.
Courts will not interfere with an arbitrator's decision just because they disagree with it on the merits, but an award that effectively rewrites the contract the parties actually signed, imposing terms neither side agreed to, crosses the line into a breach of fundamental justice that can still be set aside.
