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.
Several companies and promoters challenged the constitutional validity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016: a major economic reform law that lets creditors push a defaulting company into a time-bound resolution process before an insolvency tribunal (the NCLT). The challengers argued, among other things, that treating "financial creditors" (like banks) more favourably than "operational creditors" (like suppliers) was discriminatory, that the law unfairly barred a company's own promoters from bidding to take it back during insolvency (Section 29A), that the 90%-creditor-approval threshold to allow a settlement/withdrawal (Section 12A) was too high, and that resolution professionals were wrongly being given judge-like powers.
The Supreme Court upheld the Code almost in its entirety as constitutionally valid. It held the distinction between financial and operational creditors has a rational basis tied to how each type of debt affects the economy and was neither discriminatory nor manifestly arbitrary; it upheld Section 12A's 90% threshold for approving withdrawal/settlement as a matter of legislative policy, noting NCLT/NCLAT oversight remains available if a committee of creditors acts unreasonably; it held that a resolution professional exercises only administrative, not adjudicatory or quasi-judicial, functions, so no judicial powers were improperly delegated; and it upheld Section 29A (barring defaulting promoters and related categories of persons from bidding to regain control of the insolvent company), along with the liquidation priority scheme under Section 53. The Court separately confirmed that NCLT/NCLAT member appointments were not unconstitutional, while directing the government to establish NCLAT circuit benches outside Delhi and to move its administrative support to the correct ministry.
For major economic legislation, courts give lawmakers significant leeway to "experiment" and self-correct through amendments, and will only strike down such a law if it is clearly irrational or manifestly arbitrary: merely being tough on defaulting promoters, or imposing a high bar for creditor-approved settlements, does not by itself make an economic law unconstitutional.
