Overview
- On December 9, a group of 44 retired judges, including former Supreme Court justices Anil Dave and Hemant Gupta, issued a statement defending the Chief Justice of India.
- Their move responds to a December 5 open letter by former judges, lawyers and scholars that called the bench's Rohingya remarks unconscionable.
- The retired judges argue critics distorted an ordinary courtroom exchange and warn that such attacks threaten judicial independence.
- They note the bench explicitly affirmed that no person on Indian soil, citizen or foreigner, can be subjected to torture, disappearance or inhuman treatment.
- The statement stresses India is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and backs a court‑monitored SIT to probe illegal procurement of Indian identity and welfare documents by foreign nationals.