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 appellant, a Delhi Higher Judicial Service officer, was repeatedly not selected for promotion to District and Sessions Judge / Principal Judge (Family Court) because her ACR gradings ('B+' for several years) fell short of the promotion criteria adopted by the Delhi High Court's Full Court (requiring progressively higher gradings, eventually a straight run of 'A' gradings). She challenged the validity of these Full Court resolutions and the rule enabling them, arguing the criteria were never properly communicated to her and were unfairly applied retrospectively. The Delhi High Court rejected her challenge, while separately directing the High Court administration to frame more uniform grading guidelines for the future.
The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court's reasoning. It held that the appellant had, in fact, been informed of every one of her ACR gradings at the time and never challenged most of them, so she could not now claim she was blindsided. Since promotion to these posts depends on comparative merit among all eligible officers (not a fixed personal benchmark), being passed over in favour of colleagues with better gradings did not amount to a legal grievance. The Court also held there was no requirement to disclose other officers' point-wise ACR scores to her, and that the High Court's own suggestion for more uniform grading guidelines going forward did not retroactively invalidate the system already applied to her case. The appeal was dismissed.
For "merit-cum-seniority" promotions, simply meeting a minimum threshold or not knowing every nuance of the selection criteria in advance is not enough to claim unfairness: what matters is whether you were properly informed of your own performance ratings and given a fair chance to be considered against your peers.
