Former judges, lawyers and the civil society group Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms wrote an open letter to Chief Justice Surya Kant on Friday, expressing concerns about the “unconscionable remarks” made by the chief justice’s bench about Rohingyas during a recent hearing.

The remarks made by the bench were contrary to core constitutional values, the signatories said.

“They have had the effect of dehumanising Rohingya refugees whose equal humanity and equal human rights are protected by the Constitution, our laws and by international law,” the letter said.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the bench of Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had questioned how far the law should be stretched to accept persons who immigrate to India illegally. The court also asked whether the Union government had issued any order that declared Rohingyas as refugees.

The bench was hearing a habeas corpus plea, which alleged that five Rohingya persons had been detained by the authorities and then disappeared. A habeas corpus is a petition through which courts can order the authorities to produce a person before them to verify whether they have been detained.

The petition also sought that the deportation of undocumented migrants be carried out in line with the processes.

Kant said that India had a “sensitive border” in the north and questioned whether immigrants should be given access to the country’s resources at the cost of the needs of Indian citizens, Bar and Bench had reported.

“And so you want a red carpet for them [undocumented migrants],” he was quoted as saying. “You enter through [a] tunnel, etc and then you are entitled to food, shelter, right to education for children etc.”

On Friday, the group said that as citizens committed to equity, human dignity and the moral foundations of justice, it was “deeply troubled by the remarks”.

The letter cited remarks questioning the legal status of the Rohingya as refugees, “equating them with intruders illegally entering India, the references to persons who dig tunnels to enter illegally, questioning whether such entrants are entitled to food, shelter and education”.

The signatories include AP Shah, the former chief justice of the Delhi High Court, K Chandru, a former judge of the Madras High Court, and Anjana Prakash, a former judge of the Patna High Court. Supreme Court Advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Colin Gonzalves and Kamini Jaiswal were also among the signatories.

The working group of the civil society organisation includes advocate Prashant Bhushan.

The letter said that the “invocation of domestic poverty as a reason to deny basic constitutionally guaranteed entitlements to refugees” and the “suggestion that they be spared third-degree measures, in their treatment in India” were troubling.

The members of the Rohingya community, just as any person in India, are entitled to the protections of Article 21 of the Constitution and “not just protection from ‘third degree measures’”. Article 21 guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.

The former judges and lawyers said that the United Nations has described the Rohingyas as “the most persecuted minority” in the world, adding that the members of the community had fled to neighbouring countries to escape what has been described by the International Court of Justice as ethnic cleansing and genocide.

“They are fleeing to India, like centuries of refugees before them, seeking basic safety,” the group said.

The letter said that the words of the chief justice, as the head of the judiciary, “carry weight not simply in the courtroom but in the conscience of the nation” and have a “cascading effect” on the lower courts and the authorities.

“Invoking the plight of the poor in India to justify denying protections to refugees sets a dangerous precedent, being contrary to the principles of constitutional justice,” it added.