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 moreA young woman alleged that the respondent entered her house on the pretext of asking for a matchbox while her parents were away, and forcibly raped her. Based on this, the trial court convicted him under Sections 376 and 452 IPC and sentenced him to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment. The High Court of Himachal Pradesh later overturned the conviction and acquitted him, finding serious weaknesses in the prosecution's case, and the State appealed to the Supreme Court against that acquittal.
The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal. It noted that both the complainant's mother and father gave evasive or even contradictory testimony (the mother turned hostile and denied the incident altogether), that there was an unexplained multi-day delay in lodging the FIR, and that the medical examination was inconclusive because the prosecutrix herself did not cooperate with it: a fact from which the Court drew a negative inference against the prosecution's version. Applying the well-settled principle that an appellate court should not disturb an acquittal unless the reasoning is perverse or based on a complete misreading of evidence, the Court found the High Court's analysis of the evidence to be careful and sound, and dismissed the State's appeal.
In criminal appeals against an acquittal, the Supreme Court gives significant weight to a High Court's detailed re-examination of evidence and will not reverse it merely because a different view is possible: unexplained delay in filing an FIR and lack of cooperation with a medical examination can each seriously weaken a prosecution's case.
