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 respondent, a pharmacist with the Punjab Health Department, resigned from service in 1986, and his resignation was accepted. He later claimed he was entitled to pension and other service benefits, but the State granted him only gratuity and provident fund. He sued and won in the trial court and first appellate court, which ordered the State to pay him pensionary benefits with interest; the Punjab and Haryana High Court also dismissed the State's second appeal, rejecting the State's argument that a specific service rule barred retiral benefits for employees who resign.
The Supreme Court held that under Rule 7.5(1) of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, resignation from service (unless permitted to be withdrawn, or unless taken to join another government post) results in forfeiture of past service for pension purposes, relying on its own earlier decision in Union of India v. Braj Nandan Singh, which interpreted an identical central rule the same way. Since the respondent's resignation did not fall within the narrow exception, his past service stood forfeited and he had no qualifying service for a pension claim. The Court allowed the State's appeal and set aside the High Court's judgment, but as a matter of equity directed that the money already paid to the respondent in 2018 need not be recovered from him, while no further payments were to be made.
An employee who resigns from government service (rather than retiring or transferring to another qualifying government post) generally forfeits credit for past service and cannot later claim a pension based on that service, unless a specific rule exception applies.
