Month: August 2026

Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 226 — Maintainability of writ petition — Disputed questions of fact — Effect of long pendency — Where a writ petition seeking compensation had remained pending for over a decade and a half before being dismissed on the ground of “disputed questions of fact,” relegating the claimant to a fresh remedy before the Civil Court after such efflux of time would render the claimant remediless — On this short ground alone, interference with the impugned judgment was warranted, particularly where the underlying facts of the incident stood undisputed and unchallenged throughout.

2026 INSC 774 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH NISHA Vs. MUNICIPAL COUNCIL SANGRUR AND OTHERS ( Before : Sanjay Karol and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, JJ. ) Civil Appeal No(s).…

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 125(4) — Application of principles to facts — Remand — Trial Court erred in holding that the adultery issue could only be decided at final adjudication, rendering the statutory scheme otiose; since photographic/electronic evidence of adultery was placed on record requiring evaluation, the Trial Court was directed to decide the S. 125(4) application on merits, with interim maintenance continuing till such decision — matter remanded.

2026 INSC 778 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH HIMANSHU CHORDIA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND ANOTHER ( Before : Sanjay Karol and Vipul M. Pancholi, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal…

Specific Relief Act, 1963 — Section 20 — Specific performance — Discretionary and equitable relief — Clean hands — Grant of specific performance is discretionary, not automatic even where a valid contract subsists; a plaintiff must approach the Court with clean hands. Where the plaintiff’s spouse lodged a criminal complaint seeking recovery of the advance paid, alleging the vendor fraudulently suppressed a subsisting injunction, while simultaneously maintaining a civil suit for specific performance, such conduct amounts to blowing “hot and cold” and disentitles the plaintiff to equitable relief.

2026 INSC 776 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH V.N.A.S. CHANDRAN Vs. S. VENILA AND OTHERS ( Before : Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria, JJ. ) Civil Appeal Nos.…

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 299 — Absence of order — Effect on conviction — Where no order under S. 299 was ever passed at the stage the co-accused was tried (case having been split due to abscondence), the earlier deposition of a witness (since deceased) could not be relied upon to convict the accused apprehended and tried years later; identification by surviving eyewitnesses being doubtful and other witnesses having turned hostile, conviction based on such uncorroborated prior testimony unsustainable — appellant acquitted.

2026 INSC 775 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MAHENDRA SINGH Vs. THE STATE OF CHHATTISGARH ( Before : J. B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal…

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