44 SC/HC judges condemn ‘motivated’ attempts to distort CJI Surya Kant’s remarks on Rohingyas

Four days after a group of former judges and advocates criticised Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s remarks on Rohingyas illegally living in India, another group of 44 former judges of the Supreme Court and various high courts condemned it as “motivated attempts to distort the court’s remarks”.

Taking exception to CJI Kant’s remarks on Rohingyas, former judges, including former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah, senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Chander Uday Singh and Colin Gonzalves, and the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms had said his remarks dehumanised those fleeing genocidal persecution and weakened the moral authority of the judiciary.

However, former Supreme Court judges – Justice Anil Dave and Justice Hemant Gupta — former Rajasthan HC Chief Justice Anil Deo Singh, former Delhi HC Chief Justice BC Patel, former Patna High Court Chief Justice PB Bajanthri, former Karnataka HC Chief Justice Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, former Sikkim HC Chief Justice Permod Kohli and 37 other retired HC judges affirmed their “full confidence in the Supreme Court of India and in the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India in their discharge of constitutional duties without fear or favour”.

They said, “To convert such a constitutionally compliant approach into a charge of inhumanity is unfair to the Chief Justice and damaging to the institution. If every searching judicial question on nationality, migration, documentation or border security is met with accusations of hate or prejudice, judicial independence itself will be at risk.”

They said, “Bharat’s constitutional order demands both humanity and vigilance. In upholding human dignity while safeguarding national integrity, the judiciary has acted in accordance with its oath. It merits principled support, not vilification.”

They supported a court-monitored SIT probe into the illegal procurement of Indian identity and welfare documents by foreign nationals who have entered Bharat in violation of law.

“We, the undersigned retired Judges, express our strong objection to the motivated campaign targeting the Chief Justice of India in the wake of his remarks in proceedings concerning Rohingya migrants, including the open letter dated December 5, 2025,” they said.

Maintaining that judicial proceedings can and should be subject to fair, reasoned criticism, the group of 44 judges said, “What we are witnessing, however, is not principled disagreement but an attempt to delegitimise the Judiciary by mischaracterising routine courtroom proceedings as an act of prejudice.”

“The Chief Justice is being attacked for asking the most basic legal question: who, in law, has granted the status that is being claimed before the court? No adjudication on rights or entitlements can proceed unless this threshold is first addressed,” it said.

“Equally, the campaign conveniently omits the Bench’s clear affirmation that no human being on Indian soil, citizen or foreigner, can be subjected to torture, disappearance or inhuman treatment, and that every person’s dignity must be respected. To suppress this and then accuse the court of “de-humanisation” is a serious distortion of what was actually said,” they pointed out.