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.
Employees of the Anugraha Narayan Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, a body created by a Bihar state Act, had their pension stopped from January 2014. They went to the Patna High Court, which initially dismissed their plea but then, on intra-court appeal, ordered the State of Bihar to pay the arrears and current pension, reasoning that the State had been including pension amounts in its annual grants to the Institute for years. The State of Bihar appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing it was never legally obligated to fund the Institute's self-created pension scheme.
The Supreme Court held that the Institute's governing Act only required the State to pay a fixed annual maintenance grant and discretionary special-purpose funds: it did not mandate funding recurring pension liabilities. The 1985 Board resolution creating the pension scheme had itself specified it would be run from the Institute's own resources, not state funds. The Court ruled that merely disbursing some grant amounts earmarked for pension in past years, even for decades, did not create a legally enforceable "legitimate expectation," since that doctrine requires a foundation in law, custom, or established right, not just past voluntary practice. The appeal was allowed and the High Court's order directing the State to pay pension was set aside.
A government's past voluntary or discretionary financial support, however long continued, does not by itself create a legal right to that support going forward: "legitimate expectation" as a ground for relief requires a legal or statutory foundation, not merely a pattern of past grants.
