Just months after dismissing reports of the Indian government forcibly abandoning 40 Rohingya refugees at sea as a “beautifully-crafted story”, Justice Surya Kant has reaffirmed—this time as the Chief Justice of India—the Supreme Court’s disinclination to show any sympathy towards the stateless community.
On 2 December 2025, while hearing a habeas corpus (literally, produce the body) writ petition on the disappearance of five Rohingya refugees from the custody of the Delhi police, he questioned the Rohingya’s legal status as refugees in India.
The Chief Justice also likened them to “intruders”, according to reporting by Livelaw, echoing language used by the Prime Minister and home minister.
Chief Justice Surya Kant rhetorically asked if India should “give them (Rohingya) a red carpet welcome” and extend “all facilities”. The remarks have drawn outrage, with a group of retired judges, practicing senior lawyers and noted civil society activists calling them “contrary to core constitutional values”.
The petitioner, Rita Manchanda, a veteran human rights activist with a rich background in asylum activism, sought from the apex court a direction to the Indian government to “produce and disclose the last known location and whereabouts” of the five missing refugees.
Argued by Ujjaini Chatterji, a human rights lawyer who works closely with victims of asylum and citizenship deprivation, the petition, using independent primary research and secondary accounts, reveals how the Delhi Police surreptitiously detained the refugees on 6 May from the Madanpur Khadar area in India’s national capital under the pretext of correcting biometric errors.
Promising to release them soon after their detention, the police did not, and the group of five refugees, which includes two women, remains untraceable.
This story was originally published in article-14.com. Read the full story here.