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 moreOn the night before Holi in 2008, an altercation broke out near a Holika Dahan bonfire gathering in Chhattisgarh between a juvenile and the deceased, Irfan @ Golu. The appellants allegedly held Irfan while the juvenile stabbed him, and when a second man, Anil Chandrakar, ran to help, he too was held and stabbed; both victims later died. The trial court convicted the appellants of murder for both deaths and sentenced them to life imprisonment, and the High Court upheld the conviction for Irfan's death while reducing the charge relating to Anil's death to attempt to murder.
The Supreme Court found no reason to disturb the concurrent factual findings of the trial court and High Court regarding the appellants' role, since the main witness's testimony was corroborated by medical evidence and recovery of the weapon. However, examining the circumstances of Irfan's killing, the Court held that the stabbing arose from a sudden, unplanned scuffle rather than a premeditated attack, and that the appellants had not taken undue advantage of the deceased. It therefore reclassified their conviction for that death from murder (Section 302 IPC) to the lesser offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part I IPC), and reduced their sentence to the roughly ten years already served.
Even where a court accepts that an accused participated in a killing, the specific circumstances, such as whether the violence erupted from a sudden fight rather than a planned attack, can downgrade the offence from murder to culpable homicide and significantly reduce the sentence.
