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.
Man Singh was convicted of forging a certificate to get a government job as a Buffalo Attendant. The trial court sentenced him to a year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine, refusing to grant him probation because he had cheated a genuinely deserving unemployed candidate out of the post. On revision, the High Court upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence to time already served and raised the fine. After paying the fine, Man Singh went back to the same High Court with a fresh petition under Section 482 CrPC (the High Court's general inherent powers), and a judge simply granted him the benefit of probation so the conviction would not hurt his government job, without giving any real reasoning.
The Supreme Court held that once the High Court had already finally decided the revision petition (upholding conviction, modifying sentence), it became "functus officio": its job on that matter was over, and it had no power to reopen or alter its own order. The Court explained that Section 362 CrPC expressly bars courts from reviewing or altering a judgment once signed, and the inherent power under Section 482 cannot be used to get around that bar. It also found the probation order itself illegal, since the law requires a court to call for a formal Probation Officer's report before granting probation, which was never done here, and because the respondent had anyway obtained the job through forgery, he could not keep it regardless of probation. The State's appeal was allowed and the improper High Court order was set aside.
A court cannot use its general inherent powers to revisit and change a decision it has already finally delivered, correcting or appealing a court order has to go through the proper statutory channel (like an appeal), not a fresh petition asking the same court to reconsider itself.
