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.
TCS had a Facilities Agreement with SK Wheels Private Limited (the "Corporate Debtor") to provide exam-centre premises. After alleging repeated contractual breaches by SK Wheels, TCS terminated the agreement in June 2019. By then, insolvency resolution proceedings (CIRP) had already begun against SK Wheels, and the Resolution Professional challenged the termination before the NCLT, which stayed it; the NCLAT upheld that stay. TCS appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the NCLT's power under Section 60(5)(c) of the IBC to intervene in contractual disputes of a corporate debtor is not unlimited: it should be used only in the narrow category of cases (as laid down in its earlier Gujarat Urja ruling) where allowing a termination would certainly push the corporate debtor to its "corporate death," not merely because a contract is commercially significant. The NCLT had stayed the termination largely on a technical notice-period objection, without examining whether losing this particular contract threatened SK Wheels' survival as a going concern. Finding no such threat was shown, the Court set aside the NCLAT's judgment and held that the NCLT had no jurisdiction to restrain the termination; the proceedings against TCS were dismissed.
Insolvency tribunals cannot force a company's counterparties to keep honouring a commercial contract just because insolvency proceedings are underway: that extraordinary power is reserved for the rare case where ending the contract would doom the insolvent company's survival, not ordinary breach-of-contract disputes.
