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 appellants had filed a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) alleging oppression and mismanagement under the Companies Act, 2013, and obtained an ex-parte ad-interim order. Instead of asking the NCLT itself to vacate that order, the respondents went straight to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in appeal. The NCLAT set aside the NCLT's order on the ground that it breached natural justice (no hearing given to the other side) and sent the whole matter back to the NCLT for a fresh decision on merits. The appellants challenged this before the Supreme Court, worried that a full restart would deprive them of interim protection for years.
The Supreme Court held that the NCLAT's reasoning was legally unsound: an ex-parte interim order, by its very nature, is passed without hearing the other side when there is urgency, and that alone does not make it invalid: the NCLAT should instead have examined whether the applicant had shown urgency, a prima facie case, and balance of convenience. The Court criticized the NCLAT's approach as "novel" and lacking grounding in basic legal principles. Rather than simply restoring the matter to square one, the Court set aside the NCLAT's order and directed that the appellants may apply afresh to the NCLT for interim relief on the same application, giving the respondents two weeks to reply, and directed the NCLT to decide the interim relief application within four weeks, without the Supreme Court expressing any view on the merits.
A party aggrieved by an ex-parte interim order should ordinarily approach the same tribunal to have it vacated or modified rather than bypassing it on appeal; and an ex-parte order cannot be struck down merely because the other side wasn't heard first: urgency is the whole point of such orders.
