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 respondent lured two minor girls, aged about 8 and 9, into his empty house on the pretext of giving them money, locked the doors, undressed them, and rubbed his genitals against theirs, stopping short of actual penetration when the girls began crying. The trial court convicted him of attempted rape, but the Madhya Pradesh High Court downgraded this to the lesser offence of outraging a woman's modesty (Section 354 IPC), reasoning that his conduct amounted only to "preparation," not an "attempt." The State appealed to the Supreme Court to restore the original conviction.
The Supreme Court explained that "preparation" ends and "attempt" begins once the accused takes direct, deliberate steps towards actually committing the offence. It found that luring the children inside, locking the doors, undressing them and himself, and physically rubbing his genitals against theirs went well beyond mere preparation: these were direct steps towards rape that failed only because the children's crying interrupted him. The Court held this squarely met the standard for "attempt" to commit rape, restored the trial court's conviction under Section 376(2)(f) read with Section 511 IPC, and directed the respondent to surrender and serve out his original sentence.
In law, there is a meaningful difference between merely "preparing" to commit a crime and actually "attempting" it, once an accused takes direct, deliberate action toward completing a sexual assault (not just planning or setting the stage), courts will treat it as a punishable attempt even if the offence itself was not completed.
