'Protest Not Anarchy Licence': Ex Judges Slam Shirtless Protest At AI Event

More than 270 former judges and retired officials, including top cops, have slammed the Indian Youth Congress's shirtless protest at Bharat Mandapam during the AI Impact Summit.

In a joint statement titled, "A National Disgrace at Bharat Mandapam", the former judges and officials have described the protest as a "grotesque betrayal of national dignity" at a moment when India was hosting global technology leaders and international delegates. Among the signatories are former Delhi High Court judge Justice SN Dhingra and retired IPS officer and Tripura's former DGP BL Vohra.

The protest was "not a spontaneous expression of dissent" but "a premeditated act of sabotage", the statement said. It flagged that the protesters used legitimate QR-coded passes before engaging in "vulgar sloganeering".

The statement said the timing and location of the protest caused disproportionate damage to India's global image. "For any political entity to use an international summit as a backdrop for a topless ruckus is to tell the world that India is a land of chaos rather than a sophisticated global power," the statement read.

The officials warned that such incidents risk undermining investor confidence and diplomatic goodwill, especially because the summit was designed to highlight India's technological progress. "It mocks the hard work of our scientists, the aspirations of our engineers, and the hospitality of 1.4 billion citizens," they said.

The statement said that while democratic protest is a fundamental right, it cannot extend to actions that publicly embarrass the nation. "Democratic protest is sacred, but it is not a license for anarchy or the public humiliation of the nation," the officials noted. It said genuine opposition should be expressed through "intellectual rigor and parliamentary debate". Calling the episode a "pathetic display of brainless politics", the statement said, "Such actions did not hurt a government; they hurt a nation."