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 moreThe appellant Sudru was convicted of murdering his own son, Ajit, following a domestic quarrel with his wife Janki Bai. After the quarrel, Janki Bai left the house with her two younger children, leaving Ajit alone with the appellant overnight; the next morning she found Ajit dead, with injuries to his neck suggesting strangulation. The Trial Court convicted the appellant under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment, a conviction upheld by the High Court of Chhattisgarh, leading to this appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the conviction. Although the key prosecution witnesses (including the deceased's mother) turned hostile at trial, the Court held that credible parts of a hostile witness's testimony can still be relied upon and need not be discarded wholesale. Since the prosecution established that only the appellant and the deceased were alone in the room that night (a fact that survived cross-examination), the burden shifted to the appellant under Section 106 of the Evidence Act to explain the death, which he failed to do, offering only a false explanation (that the child died of illness) that was contradicted by medical evidence of strangulation and head injury. The Court held this combination of circumstances was sufficient to sustain the conviction.
When a person is the only one shown to have been with someone who then dies or is injured under suspicious circumstances, the law places a special burden on that person to explain what happened: silence or a false explanation can itself become evidence against them. A witness turning "hostile" in court does not automatically wipe out the value of everything they said.
