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.
A borrower's account was declared a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) by Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank in December 1999, and a Recovery Certificate for about Rs. 6.7 crores was issued in December 2001. The bank (through a subsequent merger) filed an insolvency application under Section 7 of the IBC only in July 2017: over 15 years after the recovery certificate was issued. The NCLT and NCLAT both admitted/upheld the insolvency petition, reasoning that since the default was "continuing," no period of limitation applied.
The Supreme Court disagreed, applying its recent ruling in B.K. Educational Services v. Parag Gupta and Associates, which held that Article 137 of the Limitation Act (a three-year limitation period) applies to Section 7 and 9 applications under the IBC, with the clock starting from the date of default. The Court rejected the argument that Section 23 of the Limitation Act (dealing with "continuing wrongs") could save the claim, holding that the Recovery Certificate of 2001 had already caused a complete and final injury to the appellant's rights, so limitation began running from that date and had long expired by 2017. The appeal was allowed and the NCLT and NCLAT orders were set aside.
Creditors cannot sit indefinitely on an old, already-crystallised debt (such as one covered by a recovery certificate) and then invoke the IBC's insolvency process years later: ordinary limitation rules apply, and a stale claim cannot be revived just by filing it as an insolvency petition.
