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.
Several students with locomotor disabilities who had qualified NEET (UG) 2019 sought admission to MBBS courses for 2019-20 under the 5% reservation for persons with disabilities created by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. After they cleared the entrance exam, but before admissions were finalised, the medical regulator amended its rules (notification dated 4.2.2019, adding "Appendix H") to require a stricter benchmark, including that both hands be intact with full strength and range of motion, to qualify for the disability quota. Medical Boards, including one at AIIMS New Delhi, examined the petitioners and found they did not meet this stricter criterion, so they were denied admission; the students challenged this before the Supreme Court, arguing the rules had been changed "midway" after they had already qualified.
The Supreme Court held that the amended eligibility criteria (Appendix H) were notified before the petitioners actually applied for admission under the PwD quota, the relevant date for assessing eligibility is when admission is sought, not when NEET results are declared, so there was no retrospective change of rules. The Court also held it would not sit as an appellate authority over the considered opinions of expert medical bodies (the State Medical Board, Medical Appellate Board, and AIIMS Medical Board), especially where there was no allegation of mala fide, since assessing degree of disability and fitness for a medical course is a matter for medical experts, not courts. Finding no merit in the petitioners' challenge, the Court dismissed all three connected writ petitions with no order as to costs.
Eligibility for a reserved quota is assessed as on the date of actually seeking admission, not the date of an earlier qualifying exam, and courts will generally defer to expert medical opinion on disability-related eligibility rather than substituting their own judgment, absent bad faith.
