(161) THE ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. TUNI PATI AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-08-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Fraudulent Motor Accident Claims — Investigation and Preventive Measures — Special Investigation Team (SIT) at State level — Supreme Court observed that fraudulent motor accident claims involving fixed patterns and repeated use of the same vehicle in multiple accidents constitute a fraud of enormous proportion, causing undue financial stress on insurance companies and higher premiums for genuine consumers — Fresh direction issued to India Law Library Docid # 2451176
(162) THE ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. TUNI PATI AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-08-2026 Motor Vehicles — Fraudulent Insurance Claims — Pan-India Fraud — Enlargement of Scope — Court took cognizance of a widespread pattern where identical vehicles were falsely depicted as involved in multiple accidents to secure fraudulent claims, causing financial distress to insurers and increased premiums for genuine consumers — Scope of proceedings enlarged to unearth and curb fraudulent insurance claims across the country. India Law Library Docid # 2451755
(163) SIDDARTH JEPH @ SIDDHARTH JEPH @ SIDDHARTH Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-08-2026 Criminal Law — Regular Bail — Parity — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — Sections 140(2), 140(3), 61(2) — Arms Act, 1959 — Sections 25(1-B)(a), 26, 35 — Appellant was not named in the FIR and was implicated solely based on a co-accused's statement — No Test Identification Parade was conducted by the investigating agency — Three other co-accused, including the sole accused named in the FIR, had already been released on bail — Appellant had been in custody since August 2024 — Considering parity and India Law Library Docid # 2451770
(164) NALIN (YOGESH) JAGANNATH VARMA AND ANOTHER Vs. NARENDRA JAGANNATH VARMA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 17-08-2026 Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 — Section 2(b) — Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 41 Rule 5 and Order 39 Rule 2A — Conditional stay of decree — Maintainability of contempt proceedings — High Court stayed a money decree subject to deposit of decretal amount and costs — Appellants failed to deposit, leading to contempt proceedings — Held, deposit was a condition attached to stay, not an independent direction — Non-compliance merely renders the stay inoperative or vacated, entitling decree-hol India Law Library Docid # 2451728
(165) SAMEEM BEGUM AND OTHERS Vs. K. VENKAT SWAMY AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Section 166(1)(c) — Claim for compensation — Maintainability of claim by legal representatives — Expression "legal representative" includes major children irrespective of complete financial dependency — Liability to pay compensation does not cease due to absence of dependency — Legal representatives entitled to maintain claim petition and seek compensation under conventional heads. India Law Library Docid # 2449020
(166) VINOD SHIVAKUMAR Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 306 r/w Section 107 — Abetment of Suicide — Essential Ingredients & Mens Rea — To sustain a charge for abetment of suicide under Section 306 read with Section 107 IPC, the prosecution must establish direct or indirect instigation, incitement, or goading in close proximity to the time of commission, accompanied by a clear mens rea to drive the victim to commit suicide — Allegations of continuous harassment, workplace stress, or stern behaviour alone, India Law Library Docid # 2449297
(167) SHEELA GEHLOT AND OTHERS Vs. MOHINI HARDAYAL SINGH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Section 60(1)(ccc) (as applicable to Delhi) — Exemption from attachment and sale — Main residential house — Protection under Section 60(1)(ccc) CPC is personal to the judgment-debtor and is not available to his legal representatives — Legal representative is a distinct juridical concept from judgment-debtor, with liability limited to the estate in hand, and cannot claim personal India Law Library Docid # 2449021
(168) RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED Vs. NTPC LIMITED[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Evidence Act, 1872 — Section 60 — Admissibility of oral evidence in respect of excluded documents — Parties cannot be permitted to adduce oral evidence regarding contents of internal communications/documents that have already been held irrelevant and excluded from record — Where previous orders excluding internal documents have attained finality, adducing oral evidence to depose India Law Library Docid # 2449022
(169) XXX AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Criminal Law — Quashing of FIR — Child Marriage — Welfare of victim and child — Marriage arranged by parents under the misunderstanding that Muslim personal law permitted marriage of a girl over sixteen years — Prosecution initiated after pregnancy revealed minority — Victim subsequently attained majority and had a two-year-old child with the accused — Incarcerating the accused would leave the victim and child destitute and serve no purpose — Considering the peculiar facts and social dilemma, cr India Law Library Docid # 2451751
(170) MAHESHWARI AND OTHERS Vs. STATE REP. BY SUB-INSPECTOR OF POLICE[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 420, 465, 468, 471 and 120B read with Section 34 — Second sale of land — Offence of cheating and forgery — Sustainability of conviction — Accused executed a subsequent sale deed in 2008 for land previously sold to complainant in 1977 — Physical possession remained continuously with complainant's successors — Held, ingredients of cheating and forgery are not made out — In the absence of dishonest delivery of property or creation of a false document, execution of India Law Library Docid # 2451766
(171) RAHUL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 439 — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 306 and 498-A — Regular bail — Offence of abetment of suicide and cruelty — Appellant-husband incarcerated since July 2023 — Investigation complete and chargesheet filed against appellant alone, with application under Section 319 CrPC to summon family members dismissed — Out of twenty-six prosecution witnesses, five examined — Nexus between appellant's conduct and death to attract Section 306 IPC to be determi India Law Library Docid # 2451798
(172) RANVEER GAUTAM ALLAHABADIA Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 14-08-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 142 — Quashing of FIRs and criminal proceedings — Demeaning speech on digital platforms — Multiple FIRs registered in different States against content creators for obscene and disparaging comedy content — Petitioners complied with court directions, tendered unconditional apologies, organized awareness and fundraising events for persons suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and deposited costs — Continuation of criminal proceedings found to serve no c India Law Library Docid # 2451733
(173) AUDI AUTOMOBILES AND OTHERS Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX, INDORE[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Central Excise Act, 1944 — Section 35L — Maintainability of appeal before Supreme Court — Preliminary objection raised by Department that appeal does not come under Section 35L as issue had no relation to rate of duty or valuation — Held, issue raised regarding extended period of limitation on ground of non-inclusion of certain costs in assessable value has an inextricable link with valuation of goods for purposes of assessment — Issue raised in show cause notice fundamentally dealt with valuati India Law Library Docid # 2448945
(174) SHIVAPPA Vs. SHANTAVVA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 41 Rules 23 and 24 — Power of Appellate Court to remand — Remand of case to Trial Court for framing of additional issues and fresh evidence — Permissibility — High Court remitted suit regarding one item of property for framing issues on whether sale deed was sham, limitation, and possession — Held, India Law Library Docid # 2448946
(175) NAZIM SHAIKH HASAN Vs. NASIR MUSHTAQ SHAIKH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Transfer of Property Act, 1882 — Section 111(e) & (f) — Landlord and Tenant — Determination of lease by express or implied surrender — Execution of agreement to sell by landlord in favour of tenant — Effect on jural relationship — Held, mere execution of an agreement to sell between landlord and tenant does not ipso facto determine the subsisting India Law Library Docid # 2448947
(176) BALKU ORAM Vs. STATE OF ODISHA[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302 read with 34 — Murder — Witch-hunting — Sole eyewitness testimony — Corroboration — Appellant along with co-accused dragged deceased out of her house on allegation of practicing witchcraft and brutally assaulted her with lathis, causing her death — Incident witnessed by 15-year-old daughter of deceased (P.W.3) — Reliability of sole witness — Held, direct ocular evidence India Law Library Docid # 2448948
(177) PAZHANATHAL (DEAD) THROUGH LRS. AND OTHERS Vs. ALAMATHAL (DEAD) THROUGH LRS. AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Succession Act, 1925 — Section 63(c) — Evidence Act, 1872 — Sections 68 and 69 — Proof of execution and attestation of Will — Invocation of Section 69 — Mandatory conditions — Propounder must first establish that no attesting witness can be found or is available before invoking Section 69 — Failure to lead cogent evidence India Law Library Docid # 2449023
(178) TAHER VAJIYUDDIN RANGWALA AND ANOTHER Vs. THE STATE OF GUJARAT[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302, 201 read with Section 120B — Circumstantial evidence — Failure to prove homicidal death — Medical evidence leaning towards accidental drowning — Reversal of conviction — The prosecution alleged that the appellants murdered their friend by hitting him with a broken soda bottle and drowning him in a river, relying on circumstantial evidence including last seen together theory, India Law Library Docid # 2449024
(179) M/S INDO ENGINEERING WORKS Vs. RASHTRIYA ISPAT NIGAM LIMITED (RINL) AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 — Section 8 — Referral to Arbitrator — Reference of legal issue to Larger Bench — Waiver of MSMED Act benefits upon consent to regular arbitration — Appellant, a small-scale industry, approached the Facilitation Council for arbitration without having filed a memorandum under Section 8 of the MSMED Act — High Court stalled proceedings citing a pending reference to a larger bench of the Supreme Court regarding Section 8 memorandum requireme India Law Library Docid # 2449362
(180) SAPNA Vs. ARUN SINDHI[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 13-08-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 142 — Matrimonial Disputes — Family Settlement Agreement — Closure of proceedings — During the pendency of a challenge against a divorce decree, the parties reached an amicable settlement resolving all differences — Husband paid a lump sum of Rs. 68,00,000 towards maintenance, permanent alimony, stridhan, and transfer of wife's undivided half-share in immovable property, with custody of the minor daughters remaining with the wife — Satisfied that the agreeme India Law Library Docid # 2451759