Landmark judgments
The decisions that built Indian law as it stands — basic structure, the right to life, privacy, arrest safeguards. Evergreen, arranged by decade.
Browse 6 landmark casesRecent rulings
A fresh judgment explained every week — the ones that change what you can claim, challenge or expect. Newest first.
Read the 11 latest explainersLandmark judgments
Puttaswamy: Privacy Is a Fundamental Right
Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India
Nine judges held unanimously that privacy is a fundamental right intrinsic to life and liberty — overruling six decades of contrary authority and laying the foundation for India's data protection law.
Vishaka: The Rules That Became the POSH Act
Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan
With no law on the books, the Supreme Court wrote one: a definition of sexual harassment at work and a binding complaints mechanism that governed every Indian workplace for sixteen years.
D.K. Basu: What Police Must Do When Arresting
D. K. Basu v. State of West Bengal
Eleven binding requirements the police must follow every single time they arrest or detain someone — the arrest memo, the right to have someone informed, the medical examination. This is the checklist your rights are made of.
Maneka Gandhi: How Article 21 Grew Teeth
Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India
A law that takes away your liberty is no longer enough on its own — the procedure it lays down must itself be fair, just and reasonable. This is the case that turned Article 21 from a formality into a real protection.
Recent rulings
Highway Land: Solatium Under Which Act?
Manav Bhanot v. National Highway Authority of India
Land taken for a national highway carries solatium and interest — that much is settled. On 8 September 2026 the Supreme Court decided which statute computes them, and the answer turns on a single date most landowners have never thought about.
If Your Loan Is Sold to a Bank, SARFAESI Applies
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. v. Trupti Sanjay Mehta & Ors.
Borrowers argued that a loan made by a lender outside SARFAESI could never become a SARFAESI debt just because a bank bought it. On 2 September 2026 the Supreme Court held the opposite — the moment a covered bank takes the account over, it is a secured debt.
U.P. Gangsters Act: No Offence, So No Prosecution
Shiv Pratap Singh alias Chinu v. State of U.P. & Ors.
Two advocates challenged cases registered against them under the U.P. Gangsters Act. On 20 August 2026 the Supreme Court found that the Act never creates an offence at all — called it “stillborn”, and quashed the proceedings.
Registering a Will Is Not the Same as Proving It
Pazhanathal (Dead) Through LRs v. Alamathal (Dead) Through LRs
A widow's registered Will gave her husband's farmland to one branch of the family. Forty years on, the Supreme Court held the Will was never proved — so the land passed by intestate succession instead.
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