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.
In the Moradabad judgeship, the appellants were given a one-month temporary appointment in 1987 against leave vacancies for the post of Hindi Stenographer, with their appointment letters expressly stating they would end once the regular staff returned. A fresh, proper selection exam was held in 1988 and the respondents were selected on merit. Years later in 1990, despite the appellants having failed the mandatory typing speed test for the post, the District Judge, Moradabad appointed them to the substantive post anyway and terminated the validly selected respondents, who then challenged this before the High Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's rulings quashing the appellants' appointment and restoring the respondents, holding that the appellants' original temporary appointment had already expired, they had failed the required speed test, and they had never gone through a valid selection process, unlike the respondents, who had been duly selected through fair competition. The Court rejected the argument that roughly three decades of continued service by the appellants (largely due to pending litigation) should protect their jobs, noting two people cannot occupy one sanctioned post and that benefiting from an illegal appointment does not create a right to keep it. The appeal was dismissed.
Having worked in a government post for many years does not cure a fundamentally illegal or unqualified appointment: if the selection itself was invalid, long service alone will not protect the job against the claim of a validly and fairly selected candidate.
