Nirnay Legal

Legal research for Indian advocates

Ask the question. Find the passage that answers it.

Search Supreme Court judgments by meaning, not keywords. Every result shows the passage that matched, and whether it is the court's reasoning or only a party's argument.

Supreme Court judgments
25,000+
Years of decisions
1950–2025
Citations traced
53,000+
An example search on the Research desk
Where can a cheque bounce complaint be filed?

CriteriaNI · Section 138

01AIR 2014 SUPREME COURT 3519
Appeal Allowed

Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod vs State Of Maharashtra & Anr

Supreme Court of India1 Aug 20143-judge bench

Matched passageRatio DecidendiThe court's reasoning

We have already cautioned against the extrapolation of civil law concepts such as “cause of action” onto criminal law. Section 177 of the CrPC unambiguously states that every offence shall ordinarily be inquired into and tried by a Court within whose local jurisdiction it was committed.

NI · Section 138 (matches your criteria) (key to this judgment)CrPC · Section 177BNSS · Section 196NI · Section 142
ExtractsRead judgment
Save to workspace

The Research desk

Built for how a lawyer weighs an authority

Finding a judgment is the start. Nirnay shows what the court held, what the judgment turns on, and who has relied on it since.

  • Ask in your own words

    Describe the issue the way you would put it to a colleague. Judgments are ranked by how closely a passage answers it, not by keyword hits, and legal maxims such as res judicata are recognised by name.

    • Twin conditions for bail under PMLA
    • Right to privacy as part of the right to life
  • See whose words they are

    Every passage is labelled by its role in the judgment. A match in the ratio is the court speaking; a match in an argument is only a party’s submission, and the result tells you which.

    Ratio DecidendiFinal OrderStatutePrecedentArgumentFacts
  • Bound it by statute

    Choose an Act, then its sections, and narrow by year, bench strength, outcome and case type. A strong match that falls outside your criteria is listed separately with the reason, never silently dropped.

    Act & sectionYearBench strengthOutcomeCase type
  • Know what a judgment turns on

    The provisions a judgment actually turns on are marked and listed first, ahead of passing mentions. Precedents are ordered by how much the court discusses them, with the bench that decided each.

    K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017)

    Constitution · Article 21 (key to this judgment)48 passages · in the court's reasoning

    Also cited: Articles 19, 20 and 14, and more

  • Trace who relied on it

    Pick a judgment from the search bar and the list leads with it, followed by the later judgments that cite it, so a landmark’s line of authority is one search away.

    Your pick, then the judgments citing Kesavananda Bharati

  • Read with the passage in view

    The full judgment opens at the matched passage. Hover any paragraph to see its role, then highlight, underline and leave notes that stay with your workspace.

    • Highlight
    • Underline
    • Note

Your research

Pick up where you left off

Research rarely ends in one sitting. What you find, mark and note stays organised by matter, ready for the next session.

  • Workspaces

    One for each matter. Save judgments into it from a result or from the reader, and your highlights and notes stay with them.

  • History

    Every search is kept with its criteria and the results you saw, so you can come back to them or run it again.

  • Coming soon

    Compendiums

    Bring a workspace’s judgments together as a compendium.

  • Coming soon

    Drafts

    Write with the authorities from your workspace at hand.

Start with your next question

Create a free account and search the whole collection.

Get started free