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, an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, was issued a charge memorandum in 2002 for alleged misconduct, but the memorandum had not been specifically approved by the Finance Minister (the Disciplinary Authority), as required by the applicable conduct rules. Years later, in 2014, the government issued an office memorandum purporting to give ex-post facto approval to the 2002 charge memorandum so the proceedings could continue. The Central Administrative Tribunal struck down this retrospective approval, but the Delhi High Court reversed the Tribunal and upheld it.
Relying on its own earlier ruling in Union of India v. B.V. Gopinath, the Supreme Court held that a charge memorandum issued without the Disciplinary Authority's approval is "non est", legally non-existent, and that such a fundamental defect cannot be cured by approving it after the fact; approval for initiating an inquiry and approval of the actual charge memorandum are two distinct steps that both require independent application of mind by the Disciplinary Authority. The Court set aside the High Court's judgment and restored the Tribunal's order, while permitting the Department to issue a fresh, properly approved charge memorandum within two months if it wished to pursue the matter.
A disciplinary charge-sheet against a government employee must be approved in advance by the authority empowered to discipline them; a belated attempt to "ratify" an improperly issued charge-sheet years later does not fix the defect, though the authority remains free to start the process over correctly.
