(41) SUHAS CHAKMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 26-02-2026 Prisoner Rights — Human Dignity and Rights — The strength of a constitutional democracy is tested not merely by the liberties it guarantees abstractly, but by the manner in which it treats those at its margins — Prisons, though instruments of lawful confinement, are not spaces where constitutional values cease to operate — The guarantee of life and personal dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India India Law Library Docid # 2440043
(42) M/S HAMDARD (WAKF) LABORATORIES Vs. COMMISSIONER, COMMERCIAL TAX, U.P. COMMERCIAL[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Uttar Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2008 — Schedule II, Part A, Entry 103 — Interpretation of entry — Non-alcoholic beverage "Sharbat Rooh Afza" — Classification as "fruit drink" — Essential character test — Common parlance test — Regulatory classification vs. fiscal classification — Burden of proof on Revenue — Interpretation favouring assessee. India Law Library Docid # 2439953
(43) GHANSHYAM MANDAL AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR (NOW JHARKHAND)[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302 read with Section 34 — Murder — Sustaining conviction — Ocular evidence — Eye-witness testimonies found to be consistent and reliable despite minor inconsistencies. India Law Library Docid # 2439954
(44) GHANSHYAM MANDAL AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR (NOW JHARKHAND)[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302 read with Section 34 — Murder — Appeal against conviction — Appellants convicted for murder by Sessions Court and conviction upheld by High Court — Supreme Court examined evidence and found ocular evidence to be consistent and reliable — Minor inconsistencies do not weaken India Law Library Docid # 2440284
(45) RAM NARAIN (D) BY LRS. AND OTHERS Vs. THE SUB DIVISIONAL OFFICER AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 — Section 123 — Regularisation of unauthorised occupation — Legal fiction created by Section 123(2) deems land settled with house owners in possession by a specific cut-off date, overriding Section 143 declaration — Regularisation is a socio-economic measure and is applicable even if houses were built forcefully or without consent. India Law Library Docid # 2439955
(46) VANDANA JAIN AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 — Criminal Breach of Trust, Cheating, Forgery, Using Forged Document — Joint Venture Agreement — Dispute arising from JVA — FIR quashed — Allegations primarily civil in nature, with a criminal cloak — Dishonest intention not evident from the inception — Delay in lodging FIR indicates civil dispute India Law Library Docid # 2439956
(47) OGEPPA (D) THROUGH LRS. AND OTHERS Vs. SAHEBGOUDA (D) THROUGH LRS. AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Suit for declaration of hereditary pujari rights and injunction — Long-standing dispute over temple and pujari rights spanning over a century — Conflicting claims based on historical decrees and subsequent conduct. India Law Library Docid # 2439957
(48) M/S. ADISHAKTI DEVELOPERS AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASTRA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 25-02-2026 Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 — Section 98 — Recovery Certificate — Sale under Section 98 — Mandatory Deposit — Rule 107(11)(h) of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961 — Deposit of entire auction amount within 15 days of auction date is a mandatory condition — Failure amounts to void sale — Bank did not raise objection and accepted deposit after 15 days — Such India Law Library Docid # 2440044
(49) S. RAJENDRAN Vs. THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX (BENAMI PROHIBITION) AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-02-2026 Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 vs. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 — Jurisdiction — Orders passed under Benami Act cannot be questioned before authorities under IBC — NCLT lacks jurisdiction to entertain challenges to provisional attachment orders under Benami Act — Remedy lies exclusively before competent forum under Benami Act — IBC cannot be converted India Law Library Docid # 2439907
(50) OMKARA ASSETS RECONSTRUCTION PRIVATE LIMITED. Vs. AMIT CHATURVEDI AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-02-2026 Companies Act, 1956 — Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) — Section 238 (IBC) — Overriding effect of IBC — Scheme of arrangement (SOA) under Companies Act vs. Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under IBC — Delay and non-compliance with statutory timelines in the SOA process renders it defunct — IBC provisions prevail over inconsistent provisions in other laws — India Law Library Docid # 2439908
(51) CATALYST TRUSTEESHIP LTD. Vs. ECSTASY REALTY PVT. LTD.[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-02-2026 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 — Section 7 — Adjudicating authority must satisfy itself that a financial debt exists and there is a default — Pre-existing dispute is not a bar to admitting an application by a financial creditor under Section 7, unlike in the case of an operational creditor under Section 9. India Law Library Docid # 2439909
(52) RELIANCE GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. KANIKA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-02-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Compensation — Deduction of amounts received under Haryana Compassionate Assistance to Dependents of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006 — Supreme Court clarifies that only benefits directly replacing lost income are deductible from compensation awarded under the Motor India Law Library Docid # 2439910
(53) ISRAR AHMAD KHAN Vs. AMARNATH PRASAD AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-02-2026 Contempt of Court — Non-compliance with Court Order — Alleged contemnors offered excuses and administrative hurdles for non-compliance of order passed in 2025, which was to be complied within three months. India Law Library Docid # 2440104
(54) ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. TATA AIG GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 24-02-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Liability for accident — Determining fault between two insurance companies — Focus on evidence presented before the Tribunal — Criminal case confession and FIR details are secondary to evidence led before the Tribunal in determining civil liability. India Law Library Docid # 2440105
(55) SHOBHA NAMDEV SONAVANE Vs. SAMADHAN BAJIRAO SONVANE AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-02-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 439(2) — Bail — Cancellation of Bail — Appeal against High Court order granting bail — Supreme Court can interfere if bail order is based on extraneous considerations or ignores relevant material, distinct from cancellation for misuse of bail. India Law Library Docid # 2439890
(56) AMAD NOORMAMAD BAKALI Vs. THE STATE OF GUJARAT AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-02-2026 Customs Act, 1962 — Section 135(1)(b)(i) — Conviction — Admissibility of statements under Section 108 — Statements recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962, by authorized officers are admissible in evidence if made voluntarily and do not violate Sections 24, 30, or 34 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 India Law Library Docid # 2439891
(57) SITARAM KUCHHBEDIA Vs. VIMAL RANA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-02-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 302, 149, 304 Part II — Murder vs. Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Murder — Vicarious Liability — Unlawful Assembly — Appeal against High Court's judgment altering conviction from Section 302/149 to 304 Part II/149 IPC — Supreme Court restored trial court's conviction for murder — High Court's reasoning for altering conviction was flawed — Section 149 IPC creates India Law Library Docid # 2439892
(58) NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. REKHA CHAUDHARY AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-02-2026 Employees' Compensation Act, 1923 — Section 4A(3)(b) — Penalty for default in payment of compensation — Employer's liability — Legislative intent of amendment in 1995 aimed to separate penalty from compensation and interest, placing it solely on the employer due to personal fault or negligence, to ease the burden on India Law Library Docid # 2439893
(59) DR. NARESH KUMAR GARG Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 23-02-2026 Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 — Section 30(1) and Rule 18A(2)(ii) — Search and Seizure — Validity of search authorised by a single member of the District Appropriate Authority — Ratio in Ravinder Kumar applies, holding such a search illegal. However, evidence collected during an illegal search is not automatically vitiated and India Law Library Docid # 2439894
(60) UNION OF INDIA Vs. SISTEMA SHYAM TELESERVICES LIMITED[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 20-02-2026 Telecommunication Act, 2023 — Spectrum Allocation — Supreme Court's direction for auction of 2G Band Spectrum after quashing of licenses — Payment of reserve price by existing licensees continuing operations — Date of commencement and cessation of liability. India Law Library Docid # 2439660