A High Court judge’s home goes up in flames on Holi and Rs 15 crore in cash tumbles out. A lush forest is razed overnight for an IT park until students block the bulldozers. Two people convicted of terror attacks walk free for want of evidence. A disgraced politician jailed for raping a minor is acquitted by one court, and after public fury, now awaits his fate at another.
For India’s judiciary, 2025 was a year filled with shock, relief and intense constitutional debates. Some long-pending cases seemed to be nearing resolution (or did they?), while new battles emerged. The country watched two Chief Justices of India (CJI) lead the Supreme Court – BR Gavai becoming the first Buddhist to hold the post in May, followed by Surya Kant in November. In between, an advocate hurled a shoe at CJI Gavai in open court, a spectacle that captured the year’s chaotic energy.
Here’s what defined 2025 in India’s courtrooms, and what it says about the faith citizens place in their judiciary.
On March 15, a fire was reported during the Holi celebrations at the official residence of Delhi High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma. The fire, however, unravelled something more and stunned the nation.
Several media outlets reported that large amounts of unaccounted cash were discovered at the judge’s residence; some of it was even partially burnt in the fire. A staggering Rs 15 crore was found inside one of the rooms in his residence.
After a nationwide uproar, an in-house three-member inquiry committee, led by the then CJI Sanjiv Khanna, was formed to probe the incident. Varma was subsequently transferred to the Allahabad High Court. The in-house committee recommended his removal, following which a motion of impeachment was initiated in Parliament.
Current status: In December, Justice Varma moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee set up to look into impeachment proceedings.
The Congress-led Telangana government in February announced that it planned to auction 400 acre of lush green Kancha Gachibowli forest adjacent to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) to build IT parks. Soon after, officials started felling trees and land was cleared.
The move sparked large-scale protests from students, residents and environmental activists, who said the area was ecologically sensitive and home to precious wildlife, lakes and diverse flora and fauna. The protests forced the Telangana High Court and later the Supreme Court to take a suo motu case, directing a halt to further tree felling.
In August, the apex court stayed all development activity and directed the Telangana government to submit a forest restoration plan. This case has become a landmark example of timely judicial intervention.
Current status: The case remains pending, with no final ruling yet.
The Supreme Court in November pulled up the socks of Governors for their “inconsistent” delays in granting assent to Bills passed by state Assemblies, and set timelines for them to act on it.
Calling it unconstitutional, the top court said Governors could not indefinitely withhold assent, as doing so would hamper federalism of the state. This led to President Droupadi Murmu invoking Article 143 of the Constitution. Section 143 grants the President the power to consult the top court for its opinion on significant questions of law or fact of public importance.
Murmu sought the court’s opinion on whether the judiciary could impose specific timelines for the President and state Governors to act on Bills passed by state legislatures
Current Status: It is currently pending in court.
In July, the Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 Muslim men convicted for the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, which claimed 189 people and injured over 800 commuters, ruling that there was insufficient evidence. It quashed the 2015 special court ruling that had sentenced five to death and seven to life imprisonment.
The High Court highlighted grave procedural mistakes, including inconsistent witness testimonies and questionable identification parades, and cited “copy-pasted” confessions as well as a total failure of the prosecution.
Current Status: The Maharashtra government approached the Supreme Court, which stayed the HC’s judgment but ordered that the acquitted men remain free. The apex court’s stay order was intended to stop the judgment from being used in other cases. The case remains pending.
July also saw a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai acquitting all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, including former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit. The NIA court stated that the prosecution failed to prove its case and cited insufficient reliable evidence to convict.
Current status: The victims’ families have filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court.
In August, the Supreme Court’s suo moto order aimed at protecting the people of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) from the menace of stray dog bites, directed the Delhi Government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the authorities of the National Capital Region (NCR) to pick up stray dogs and relocate them to shelters and pounds within eight weeks.
This created a nationwide furore, with several animal welfare groups, common citizens and celebrities taking to the roads, protesting the order. This forced the Supreme Court to revisit its order through a larger bench.
It modified its directions on stray dogs, clarifying that captured dogs must be sterilised, dewormed, vaccinated, and then released back to the same localities from where they were picked up — except those suffering from rabies, suspected to be rabid, or showing aggressive behaviour.
Current status: The case remains ongoing before the Supreme Court, with the next hearing scheduled in early January 2026.
Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Act in April 2025, which the BJP-ruled Centre said was aimed to make the governance of Muslim religious and charitable endowments in India more transparent. The Act mandates the digital registration of all properties on the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) portal and introduce District Collectors in the board to solve property disputes. It also includes non-Muslim members in state and central Waqf boards.
Opposition parties moved the Supreme Court against the law, which delivered an interim ruling on the petitions but refused to stay the entire Act. The top court paused key provisions, including clauses on the five‑year practice requirement and executive powers to adjudicate Waqf properties and board composition rules, citing constitutional concerns and potential arbitrariness. The bench, led by the then CJI BR Gavai, emphasised the presumption of constitutionality but granted partial relief pending full adjudication.
Current status: The case remains ongoing.
Soon after the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, 10 MLAs elected on the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) tickets shifted their loyalty to the ruling Congress in the state. Under the anti-defection law, the pink party filed disqualification petitions before Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar.
This July, the Supreme Court directed him to decide all disqualification petitions within three months. The SC reprimanded the Speaker for his inaction and issued notices for non-compliance. In December, Gaddam Prasad Kumar dismissed petitions against five of the 10 MLAs, citing insufficient evidence.
Current status: Speaker Prasad gave a partial ruling. The Supreme Court continues to keep the matter under judicial scrutiny. Meanwhile, the BRS has announced it would challenge the decision in the top court.
In a judgment that shocked the nation, the Supreme Court ordered the acquittal of Surinder Koli in the 2006 Nithari killing case, bringing a nearly two-decade-long case to a close. It upheld an earlier judgement of the Allahabad High Court that ruled that the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that key evidence was invalid.
In 2006, Noida woke up to the news of the discovery of skeletal remains of children in a drain and a septic tank behind the bungalow owned by businessman Moninder Singh Pandher. He and his domestic help, as well as the main accused Surinder Koli, were arrested. They confessed of killing six children and sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman named Payal.
In 2009, a special session court in Ghaziabad found both men guilty and awarded death sentence. But on September 10, 2009, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Moninder and overturned his death sentence and he was set free.
The 2025 decision of the Supreme Court left the victims’ families distraught and crestfallen, raising questions about the investigation and judicial process.
Current Status: Both Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher are free.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is the Election Commission’s door-to-door comprehensive exercise voter verification process by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Based on their survey, they remove deceased or those migrated to other cities, duplicate entries and enroll new voters or first-time voters.
After allegations of indiscretions raised by Opposition parties that the EC’s SIR of electoral rolls was an exercise backed by the Centre to delete voters, the Supreme Court warned the poll body that it cannot remove names arbitrarily or treat it as a proxy for citizenship verification.
It also clarified that while Aadhaar can be accepted as identity proof, it cannot be treated as proof of citizenship.
Current status: The case remains pending.
After conducting the caste census, Congress’s Revanth Reddy government in Telangana increased the Backwards Class (BC) reservations in local body elections from 23 per cent to 42 per cent, pushing the total reservations, including Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) quotas, to 67 per cent. This violated the Supreme Court’s judgment, which stipulated a maximum of 50 per cent.
The Opposition parties moved the Telangana High Court. In October, the court stayed the 42 per cent caste census reservation order, making it clear to the government it could not violate the top court ceiling. The state government challenged this in the Supreme Court, but the apex court refused to lift the stay.
Current status: As a result, the gram panchayat elections were conducted using the old reservation limits, while the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) have been put on hold.
The high-profile case involving two of the biggest stars of the Malayalam film industry, where a female actor alleged she was abducted and sexually assaulted for hours in a moving vehicle across Kerala’s Kochi in 2017, saw the acquittal of actor Dileep by the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court, citing not enough evidence to prove his involvement.
The main accused, Sunil NS alias Pulsar Sunil and five others were convicted and sentenced to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment. The verdict left the society divided, with the state government, members of the film fraternity, common citizens and sections of the media criticising it, while Dileep’s supporters cheered.
Current status: The Pinirayi Vijayan government in Kerala has announced it plans to appeal against Dileep’s acquittal in the High Court.
The Delhi High Court allowed former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, accused of gang-raping a minor in 2017 in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, to walk free in December 2025, leaving her and her family in complete disbelief.
However, after a nationwide outrage and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) subsequently filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against Senger’s release, the top court stayed the High Court’s order.
Current status: Sengar remains in custody. The case will be heard in the Supreme Court.
This post was last modified on January 7, 2026 3:17 pm