Constitutional Law

The Supreme Court of India, in Ishwar Chand Sharma v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2026 INSC 587), quashed criminal proceedings under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against a husband and his family members. The bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan flagged what it described as the "uglier side of matrimonial litigation," where false POCSO complaints are weaponised to extract settlements or harass estr

The Delhi High Court on May 29, 2026, upheld the validity of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) regulations capping television advertisements at 12 minutes per clock hour, rejecting challenges from broadcasters who argued the cap violated their right to commercial exploitation of airwaves. A division bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan dismissed a batch of petitions filed by general entertainment, news, and regional broadcasters, holding that TR

The Delhi High Court has delivered a landmark ruling holding Google liable for trademark infringement for allowing competitors to bid on the registered trademark "HINDWARE" as a keyword in its Google Ads programme. Justice Mini Pushkarna, in a judgment delivered on May 22, 2026, permanently restrained Google LLC and Google India from permitting the use of "HINDWARE" or any deceptively similar variations as advertising keywords, and directed Google to jointly pay Rs 30 lakh as

The Supreme Court of India has issued a binding directive requiring all High Courts to pronounce reserved judgments within three months, marking one of the most significant interventions in recent years to address chronic delays in the Indian judiciary. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi invoked Article 142 of the Constitution to issue these directions, observing that prolonged delays in delivering judgments cause serious prejudice and irr

The Supreme Court of India on May 29, 2026, set aside a Rs 447.27 crore disgorgement order issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) against Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), delivering a significant victory for the company in a case that stretched back nearly two decades. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan partly allowed RIL's appeal against the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) ruling that had upheld SEBI's findings of market manipulation

The Supreme Court of India, on May 29, 2026, permitted wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the Asian Games 2026 selection trials scheduled for May 30 and 31 at IG Stadium in New Delhi and the Regional Centre in Lucknow, respectively. A bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe declined to stay the Delhi High Court's order that had allowed Phogat to take part in the trials, while hearing a plea filed by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) challenging tha

The Supreme Court of India, in its judgment delivered on May 28, 2026, in Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India, upheld the constitutional validity of the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that the Election Commission is empowered under Article 324 of the Constitution, read with Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act,

The Supreme Court of India, in a landmark order delivered on May 29, 2026, directed sweeping structural reforms to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan ordered changes to the SCBA's constitution, electoral process, and membership structure, including the introduction of reservation for women advocates and advocates with disabilities, an extension of the executive committee's tenure from one y

The Supreme Court of India on May 27, 2026, delivered a significant ruling in favour of Amazon, setting aside the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) Rs 202 crore penalty imposed on the e-commerce giant over its 2019 acquisition of a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Private Limited. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta quashed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) 2022 judgment that had upheld the CCI order, holding that the competi

The Supreme Court of India has directed that all matters listed on miscellaneous days, including Mondays and Fridays, as well as during partial working days, shall be heard only through video conferencing until further orders. The direction comes in the context of the Central Government advisory on fuel conservation following the ongoing global energy crisis triggered by the conflict in West Asia. However, the Court clarified that it cannot compel advocates to attend hearings

President Droupadi Murmu on May 16, 2026, promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, raising the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges from 34 (including the Chief Justice of India) to 38. The ordinance, issued under Article 123 of the Constitution while Parliament is not in session, amends the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, increasing the number of judges other than the CJI from 33 to 37. This is the largest single increase

The Supreme Court has directed the Union Government, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to file their responses to petitions challenging CBSE Circular No. Acad-33/2026, which mandates that all Class 9 students in CBSE-affiliated schools must study three languages from the 2026-27 academic year. A writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by 19 petitioners comprising parents and

The Supreme Court of India on May 27, 2026, upheld the constitutional validity of a 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax on online gaming companies, ruling that the levy applies to the full value of bets placed by users. The landmark judgment, delivered by a bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, settles a dispute between the online gaming industry and the tax department that has been running since 2022 over how GST should be calculated on real-money games. The deci

The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a significant constitutional plea challenging rules that bar Parsi women from entering Zoroastrian fire temples (agiaries) after marrying outside the community. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi scheduled the hearing for May 29, 2026, and indicated it may pass an interim order to address the immediate rights of the petitioner, Dina Budhraja, who was prev

The Jharkhand High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of disturbing allegations concerning the sexual assault of a female inmate at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar, Ranchi. A Division Bench comprising Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay and Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava registered a Public Interest Litigation based on newspaper reports and a letter addressed by the Leader of the Opposition to the Chief Justice of the High Court. The Court has directed the Director General

The Supreme Court of India has quashed criminal proceedings under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code against four members of a husband's family, holding that passive failure to intervene in a marital dispute does not, by itself, attract criminal liability. The ruling, delivered by a bench that set aside orders of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, reinforces the principle that criminal prosecution requires specific allegations of active complicity, not generalised claims of

The Supreme Court of India has quashed criminal proceedings under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code against four members of a husband's family, holding that passive failure to intervene in a marital dispute does not, by itself, attract criminal liability. The ruling, delivered by a bench that set aside orders of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, reinforces the principle that criminal prosecution requires specific allegations of active complicity, not generalised claims of

The Supreme Court of India on May 25, 2026, expressed deep concern over the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination following allegations of a paper leak. A bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe observed that the National Testing Agency (NTA) appeared not to have learnt its lesson from the controversy that marred the 2024 examination cycle. The NEET-UG 2026 exam, originally held on May 3, was cancelled after credible reports of the question paper being

The Bombay High Court has set aside a tax demand of about Rs 1,524 crore raised on Tata Sons in connection with the payment it made to Japan's NTT Docomo under an international arbitral award. In its judgment of 30 April 2026 in Tata Sons Private Limited versus Union of India, the Court held that money paid as damages pursuant to an arbitral award is not a taxable supply of service under the goods and services tax framework. The decision is significant for businesses because

A question that affects thousands of law students across India is now before the Supreme Court: can a college bar a student from sitting examinations only because the student has fallen short of the minimum attendance requirement? In May 2026 the Supreme Court declined to stay a Delhi High Court ruling that had answered this question in favour of students, while making clear that it would hear the matter fully and lay down the correct legal position. The case touches the long