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.
Respondent company and its directors were issued a show-cause notice in 1991 under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) for alleged violations in certain import/export transactions. After FERA was repealed and replaced by FEMA in 2000, an adjudication order imposing a penalty was passed in 2003, and the respondents' appeal against it was dismissed as "not maintainable" before the Special Director (Appeals). The Bombay High Court held that appeal was in fact maintainable before the Special Director (Appeals), prompting the Union of India to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court examined the transitional provisions of FERA and FEMA and held that any appeal filed after FERA's repeal (01.06.2000) against an order passed under Section 51 of FERA must go to the Appellate Tribunal under Section 19 of FEMA, not to the Special Director (Appeals) under Section 17, mirroring how pending appeals were already being transferred to the Appellate Tribunal. The Court reasoned that the legislature did not intend two different appellate routes for similar orders, as that would create anomalies such as unequal rights of further appeal to the High Court. It set aside the High Court's judgment and transferred the respondents' appeals to the Appellate Tribunal for disposal on merits.
When a law is repealed and replaced by a new statute with its own appellate structure, the correct appellate forum for pending or related matters follows the new statute's transitional scheme: litigants must check which tribunal has jurisdiction after such a legislative transition, rather than assuming the older forum still applies.
