After leftist activists led by the Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan attacked Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for his comments on illegal Rohingya immigrants, 44 former judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts strongly condemned the attack. In an open letter dated December 9, 2025, the former judges defended CJI Surya Kant, saying that while judicial proceedings can be subjected to fair criticism, the attack on the CJI amounted to deligitimising the judiciary.
“Judicial proceedings can and should be subject to fair, reasoned criticism. What we are witnessing, however, is not principled disagreement but an attempt to delegitimise the Judiciary by mischaracterising a routine courtroom proceeding 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,” the former judges wrote.
44 retired judges say enough is enough.
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) December 9, 2025
Misrepresenting CJI Surya Kant’s remarks on Rohingya migrants is not “critique” , it is a motivated attack on the Supreme Court itself.
When routine judicial questions are branded prejudice, it is not the judge who is under attack, it is… pic.twitter.com/V2XPiPiyRp
The legal dignitaries, including former Supreme Court Judges, Justices Anil Dave and Hemant Gupta, six High Court Chief Justices and 36 High Court Judges, called out the malicious campaign against CJI Kant and said that his question inquiring the legal status of Rohingya immigrants in the country was legitimate and necessary. “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 “dehumanisation” is a serious distortion of what was actually said,” the letter stated.
Affirming CJI Kant’s remarks about the legal status of Rohingya immigrants, the former judges noted in the letter, “They have not been admitted through any statutory refugee-protection framework. Their entry, in most cases, is irregular or illegal, and they cannot unilaterally convert that position into a legally recognised “refugee” status merely by assertion.” The letter further pointed out that since India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, it is not obliged to confer refugee status on Rohingya immigrants.
The former judges also highlighted that illegal immigrants obtaining Indian identification cards is a serious and legitimate concern. “There is a serious and legitimate concern as to how persons who entered India illegally have obtained Aadhaar cards, ration cards and other Indian documentation. These instruments are meant for citizens or lawfully resident persons. Their misuse corrodes the integrity of our identification and welfare systems and raises grave questions about collusion, document fraud and organised networks.
“Against this backdrop, the judiciary’s intervention has been firmly within constitutional bounds and directed towards protecting the country’s integrity while upholding basic human dignity. The judgment and observations under attack reflect this balance with insistence on legality and national security on the one hand, and unequivocal rejection of torture, disappearance and inhuman treatment on the other,” the former judges said, adding that such motivated attacks on the judiciary will adversely affect its independence. “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,” the judges stated.
What did CJI Surya Kant say about illegal Rohingya immigrants
During the hearing of a case relating to illegal Rohingya immigrants on 2nd December, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi questioned the legal status of the Rohingyas, asking, “Where is the order of the Government of India declaring them as refugees? Refugee is a well-defined legal term, and there is a prescribed authority by the Government to declare them. If there is no legal status of a refugee, and somebody is an intruder, and he enters illegally, do we have an obligation to keep that fellow here?”
Adopting a stern approach towards immigrants entering the country in violation of the law, CJI Kant remarked, “You enter illegally by cutting a fence or through a tunnel, and then say that now that you have entered, you are entitled to all rights – notice, food, and even rights for your children. We also have poor people in this country. Are they not entitled to certain benefits and privileges? Should we give these benefits to others instead?”
Leftists attacked the CJI for merely stating the law
CJI Kant’s honest and valid remarks against illegal immigrants irked the usual suspects, who came after him. A group of 30 retired judges, senior advocates, and leftist activists, including the CJAR (Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms) of activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, wrote an open letter on 5th December, slamming the CJI and describing his remarks as “unconscionable”.
