Ex-judges slam ‘motivated’ campaign against CJI Kant over Rohingya migrants

New Delhi: A group of 44 retired judges, including two former Supreme Court judges and several former Chief Justices of High Courts, have issued a joint statement strongly condemning “a motivated campaign” against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant following his remarks in proceedings relating to Rohingya migrants.

The statement said that while judicial proceedings may legitimately invite reasoned criticism, the recent attempts — including an open letter issued on December 5 — are an attempt to “delegitimise the judiciary” by mischaracterising routine courtroom queries 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 addressed,” the statement added.

The retired judges said that the ongoing campaign “conveniently omits” the CJI Kant-led Bench’s categorical affirmation that no person on Indian soil — citizen or foreigner — can be subjected to torture, disappearance or inhuman treatment.

“To suppress this and then accuse the Court of ‘dehumanisation’ is a serious distortion of what was actually said,” they added.

The signatories highlighted that Rohingya migrants have not been admitted to India under any statutory refugee-protection framework; that India is neither a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol; and that concerns over the illegal procurement of Aadhaar, ration cards, and other documents by foreign nationals merit urgent scrutiny.

They said that a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) may be necessary to inquire into how illegally entered migrants obtained Aadhaar, ration cards and other welfare documents, and to identify networks facilitating such activities.

According to the statement, the complex citizenship status of the Rohingya in Myanmar further stressed the need for Indian courts “to proceed on clear legal categories, not slogans or political labels”.

“Against this backdrop, the judiciary’s intervention has been firmly within constitutional bounds,” it said, adding that the CJI Kant-led Bench’s observations struck a balance between safeguarding national security and upholding human dignity.

“To convert such a constitutionally compliant approach into a charge of inhumanity is unfair to the Chief Justice and damaging to the institution,” the former judges cautioned, adding that judicial independence would be at risk if every judicial question on nationality, migration, documentation or border security was met with accusations of hate or prejudice.

The statement concluded by affirming “full confidence” in the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India, condemning motivated attempts to personalise disagreement through targeted attacks. It supported the consideration of an SIT to examine the illegal procurement of Indian identity documents by foreign nationals who have entered the country in violation of the law.

IANS