On Tuesday, in a forceful pushback against rising criticism aimed at the Chief Justice of India, a large group of retired judges has publicly condemned what they describe as a “motivated campaign” seeking to discredit the Supreme Court’s handling of proceedings involving Rohingya migrants. Their collective intervention reframes the controversy as an attack on judicial independence, warning that mischaracterising basic legal questions as prejudice threatens the integrity of constitutional adjudication.
The controversy began when a December 5 open letter accused the CJI of bias for posing threshold questions during hearings related to Rohingya migrants. According to the retired judges, these allegations ignore the foundational nature of the inquiry, namely, determining who in law granted the status being asserted before the Court. They also stressed that India has no statutory refugee-protection regime, is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, and that the widespread, unlawful acquisition of Aadhaar, ration cards and welfare documents by foreign nationals demands close examination. Framing the criticism as an attempt to delegitimise judicial scrutiny on sensitive issues of nationality and documentation, the signatories cautioned that such tactics distort public perception and hinder the judiciary’s constitutional responsibilities.
The retired judges anchored their position in a categorical restatement of first principles, stating, “No adjudication on rights or entitlements can proceed unless this threshold is first addressed.” They noted that critics had also omitted the Bench’s clear affirmation that every person on Indian soil, citizen or foreign national, is protected from torture, disappearance and inhuman treatment. Stressing the seriousness of identity fraud and collusive networks enabling illegal entrants to obtain Indian documentation, they supported consideration of a court-monitored SIT. Concluding that the attacks personalise disagreement and threaten judicial autonomy, the signatories expressed full confidence in the Supreme Court and denounced the distortion of judicial remarks.
Signatories
Justice Permod Kohli; Justice Anil Dave; Justice Hemant Gupta; Justice Anil Deo Singh; Justice B. C. Patel; Justice P. B. Bajanthri; Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee; Justice Permod Kohli; Justice S. M. Soni; Justice K. Sreedhar Rao; Justice Vishnu S. Kokje; Justice Ambadas Joshi; Justice S. N. Dhingra; Justice R. K. Gauba; Justice Vinod Goel; Justice Gian Prakash Mittal; Justice Vidya Bhushan Gupta; Justice Ramesh Kumar Merathia; Justice Karam Chand Puri; Justice R. S. Rathore; Justice Rakesh Saksena; Justice K. K. Trivedi; Justice H. P. Singh; Justice D. K. Paliwal; Justice Sushil Kr. Gupta; Justice Dr. Siva Sankara Rao; Justice Pratyush Kumar; Justice Surendra Vikram Singh Rathore; Justice Vijay Laxmi; Justice S. K. Tripathi; Justice D. K. Arora; Justice Rajes Kumar; Justice S. N. Srivastav; Justice Vineet Kothari; Justice Ravikumar Rameshwardayal Tripathi; Justice K. A. Puj; Justice P. N. Ravindran; Justice Hariharan Nair; Justice V. Chitambaresh; Justice N. K. Balakrishnan; Justice Subhash Chand; Justice Lokpal Singh; Justice Vivek Sharma; Justice Narender Kumar; Justice Rajiv Lochan.
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