Retired Judges Condemn “Motivated Campaign” Against CJI Surya Kant Over Rohingya Case Remarks

A group of retired judges has issued a public statement strongly objecting to what they describe as a “motivated campaign” targeting the Chief Justice of India following his remarks during recent Supreme Court proceedings concerning Rohingya migrants. The signatories said the criticism, raised in an open letter dated December 5, mischaracterises ordinary judicial queries as prejudice and seeks to delegitimise the judiciary.

In their statement titled “Disparagement of the Supreme Court is Unacceptable”, the retired judges underscored that while court proceedings may be subject to fair criticism, the current campaign constitutes a distortion of facts. They emphasised that the CJI was merely asking a foundational legal question in the matter: who in law had granted the status being asserted before the Court? According to them, no judicial determination on rights can proceed without first addressing this threshold.

The judges also pointed out that critics had omitted an important portion of the Bench's observations, which had clearly affirmed that no human being on Indian soil, whether citizen or foreign national, can be subjected to torture, disappearance or inhuman treatment. Suppressing this, they said, and then accusing the Court of dehumanisation amounted to a serious distortion.

Reasserting legal principles, the retired judges noted that Rohingya migrants have not entered India under any statutory refugee protection framework. India is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, they said, and therefore the legal obligations owed to those who enter Indian territory derive from the Constitution, domestic immigration laws and general human rights norms.

Given these issues, the judges expressed support for the consideration of a court-monitored Special Investigation Team into the illegal procurement of Indian identity and welfare documents by foreign nationals who have entered the country illegally.

The retired judges cautioned that converting constitutionally grounded judicial scrutiny into allegations of prejudice threatens judicial independence itself. They said that if every probing question on issues of nationality, migration or documentation is met with accusations of bias, the institution's ability to discharge its constitutional duties will be compromised.

Affirming their full confidence in the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice, the signatories condemned efforts to personalise disagreement and distort judicial remarks. They urged support for the judiciary's balanced approach, which they said upholds human dignity while safeguarding national integrity.

Signatories

1. Justice Anil Dave, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
2. Justice Hemant Gupta, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
3. Justice Anil Deo Singh, Former Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court
4. Justice B. C. Patel, Former Chief Justice, Jammu and Kashmir High Court and Delhi High Court
5. Justice P. B. Bajanthri, Former Chief Justice, Patna High Court
6. Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, Former Chief Justice, Karnataka High Court
7. Justice Permod Kohli, Former Chief Justice, Sikkim High Court and Former Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal
8. Justice S. M. Soni, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court and Former Lokayukta, State of Gujarat
9. Justice K. Sreedhar Rao, Former Acting Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court
10. Justice Vishnu S. Kokje, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan High Court
11. Justice Ambadas Joshi, Former Judge, Bombay High Court and Former Lokayukta, State of Goa
12. Justice S. N. Dhingra, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
13. Justice R. K. Gauba, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
14. Justice Vinod Goel, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
15. Justice Gian Prakash Mittal, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
16. Justice Vidya Bhushan Gupta, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
17. Justice Ramesh Kumar Merathia, Former Judge, Jharkhand High Court
18. Justice Karam Chand Puri, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
19. Justice R. S. Rathore, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court and Former Member, National Green Tribunal
20. Justice Rakesh Saksena, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
21. Justice K. K. Trivedi, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
22. Justice H. P. Singh, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
23. Justice D. K. Paliwal, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
24. Justice Sushil Kr. Gupta, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
25. Justice Dr. Siva Sankara Rao, Former Judge, Telangana High Court
26. Justice Pratyush Kumar, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
27. Justice Surendra Vikram Singh Rathore, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
28. Justice Vijay Laxmi, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
29. Justice S. K. Tripathi, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
30. Justice D. K. Arora, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
31. Justice Rajes Kumar, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
32. Justice S. N. Srivastav, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
33. Justice Vineet Kothari, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court
34. Justice Ravikumar Rameshwardayal Tripathi, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court
35. Justice K. A. Puj, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court
36. Justice P. N. Ravindran, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
37. Justice Hariharan Nair, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
38. Justice V. Chitambaresh, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
39. Justice N. K. Balakrishnan, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
40. Justice Subhash Chand, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court and Uttarakhand High Court
41. Justice Lokpal Singh, Former Judge, Uttarakhand High Court
42. Justice Vivek Sharma, Former Judge, Uttarakhand High Court
43. Justice Narender Kumar, Former Chairman, NCMEI
44. Justice Rajiv Lochan, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court

Click here to read the statement