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.
Ashish Awasthi's father, a government employee working on a "work charge" basis, died in October 2015. Under the policy then in force, Awasthi was given a compensatory payment but was not immediately eligible for a compassionate appointment. A later circular issued in 2016 extended compassionate appointment eligibility to such work-charge employees' families, and when the State rejected his claim as governed by the earlier policy, the Madhya Pradesh High Court's Division Bench directed the State to reconsider his case under the new, more favourable 2016 circular. The State appealed to the Supreme Court, along with a connected appeal involving a similarly situated claimant, Baalendu Yadav.
The Supreme Court held that eligibility for compassionate appointment must be assessed under the policy that was in force on the date of the employee's death, not a policy introduced afterward. Since the father died before the 2016 circular came into effect, the High Court's direction to apply that circular retrospectively was incorrect. The Court allowed the State's appeal (and the connected appeal concerning Baalendu Yadav for the same reasons), quashed the High Court's judgments, and ruled that any appointment already made on the basis of the quashed judgment could not stand, while permitting repayment arrangements for the compensation already given.
A family's right to a government job on compassionate grounds is generally fixed by the scheme in force on the date of the employee's death: a more generous policy introduced later cannot be applied retrospectively to revive a claim that didn't exist at that time.
