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 respondents were employees of the Rajasthan State Agro Industries Corporation (which only had a Provident Fund scheme) who became "surplus" when that corporation closed, and were absorbed into the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC), which offered both a Pension Scheme and a CPF Scheme. Both respondents validly opted for the Pension Scheme within the prescribed window, and their old Provident Fund contributions (employee's and employer's share) were duly transferred to RSRTC, but RSRTC refused to grant them pensions on retirement, citing a later circular that conditioned pension on transfer of a separate "capital amount" from the old employer: an amount neither the Pension Regulations nor the original 1991 absorption circular actually required.
The Supreme Court held that the applicable 1991 circular and RSRTC's own Pension Regulations only required transfer of the employee's and employer's provident fund contributions (to the GPF and Pension Fund respectively), not any separate "capital value", and this transfer had already been completed via the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner. The corporation's reliance on a later circular demanding an undefined "capital amount" was therefore without legal basis, and the respondents had validly exercised their pension option in time. The Court upheld the High Court's direction to grant pension, but modified the terms slightly in equity, allowing the respondents to keep whatever CPF benefits they had already received (rather than refunding them) and making pension payable prospectively from the date of their refund of any overlapping CPF deposit, thereby dismissing both of the Corporation's appeals with minor modifications.
When an employee is lawfully absorbed into a new organisation and completes all the actual conditions a transfer scheme requires (such as transferring provident fund contributions), the new employer cannot deny a promised benefit like pension by inventing additional conditions not found in the governing regulations or circular.
