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.
Two railway contractors, after completing works for Northern Railways, raised post-completion monetary claims and invoked the arbitration clause (Clause 64) in their contracts, which required that disputes be arbitrated by designated Railway officers. When the Railways did not appoint an arbitrator within time, the contractors approached the Delhi High Court under Section 11 of the Arbitration Act, which appointed independent, non-Railway arbitrators instead of following the contractually specified procedure. The Railways appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the High Court should have required appointment of arbitrators as per the contract rather than substituting independent arbitrators.
The Supreme Court held that since the arbitration requests pre-dated the 2015 Amendment Act, the pre-amendment law applied, under which courts were expected to respect a contract's specified arbitrator-appointment mechanism rather than bypass it. Relying on its own precedent in Union of India v. Parmar Construction Company and earlier rulings (M.P. Gupta, V.S. Engineering), the Court held that where an agreement names a specific category of arbitrators (here, Railway officers), courts should direct appointment in terms of that agreement rather than appointing independent arbitrators, unless the authority's own conduct in delay justifies deviation. The Court set aside the High Court's appointment of independent arbitrators and directed the Railways to appoint arbitrators strictly under Clause 64(3) of the contract within one month, leaving the contractors' disputed claims, including whether "No Claim" certificates were signed under duress, open to be argued before the arbitrator.
When a government or public-sector contract specifies a particular method for appointing an arbitrator, courts will generally enforce that contractual mechanism rather than substitute an independent arbitrator of their own choosing, even if the arbitrating authority delayed; the dispute over whether a "No Claim" certificate was signed voluntarily is a matter for the arbitrator to decide, not the court.
