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 moreFollowing a family dispute, the accused allegedly attacked the complainant's household at night, shooting the complainant and his wife and then setting the house on fire when other family members refused to open a locked door, killing the complainant's wife, a young child, and another child trapped inside. The trial court convicted five accused and sentenced them to death, but the Allahabad High Court rejected the death-sentence reference and acquitted all the accused, prompting the State of Uttar Pradesh to appeal to the Supreme Court. By the time the matter reached the Supreme Court, two of the five accused had died, leaving three respondents.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had wrongly acquitted the accused by relying on minor, trivial inconsistencies in witness testimony and the inquest report that did not go to the heart of the prosecution's case, rejecting reliable eyewitness evidence identifying the accused without adequate grounds. The Court restored the conviction, finding the prosecution had cogently proved the accused acted with common intention to kill. However, given that roughly a decade had passed since the High Court's acquittal, the Court held that confirming the death sentence was no longer appropriate and instead converted it to life imprisonment, while upholding the other sentences, and directed the three surviving accused to be taken into custody immediately.
Appellate courts should not overturn a trial court's conviction based on trivial or peripheral inconsistencies in witness or inquest evidence that do not undermine the core prosecution story; separately, even where a conviction for a capital crime is restored on appeal, long unexplained delay in the proceedings can itself be a valid reason for a court to commute a death sentence to life imprisonment rather than impose it.
