SC questions legal status of Rohingyas, asks can intruders be given red carpet welcome

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (December 2, 2025) questioned whether individuals who enter India “illegally” can insist that procedural safeguards be applied before their deportation, as it heard a habeas corpus petition alleging the disappearance of several Rohingya persons who were earlier in the custody of the Delhi Police.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing the petition filed by rights activist Rita Manchanda, who alleged that the Rohingya had been picked up by the Delhi Police in May and that their present whereabouts remain unknown. She contended that they could not have been deported without following the procedure prescribed under the law.

“First, you cross the fenced border illegally, and you enter India. Then you declare that ‘now that I have entered, your laws must apply to me, that I should be issued a show-cause notice, I am entitled to be provided food, I am entitled to be provided shelter, my children are entitled to this and that’. Do we want to stretch the law like this?”, the Chief Justice orally remarked, while addressing the submission that any deportation must conform to due process.