The Supreme Court strongly criticised the West Bengal government after seven judicial officers were held hostage in Malda during voter list revision work. The Court ordered a CBI/NIA probe and said the incident was a serious challenge to the authority of the judiciary.
New Delhi: In a shocking incident that has raised serious concerns about the safety of judicial officers and the authority of the judiciary, seven judicial officers were held hostage in West Bengal’s Malda district by a group of angry voters whose names were deleted from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The incident has drawn strong remarks from the Supreme Court, which described the situation as serious and concerning for the rule of law.
The incident took place when the judicial officers were conducting proceedings related to objections in the electoral roll revision process. According to reports, the officers were surrounded and gheraoed by a large group of people in the afternoon and were not allowed to leave the premises for several hours.
The situation remained tense for over nine hours, and the officers were finally rescued around 1 am after a large team of police and paramilitary forces reached the spot and evacuated them safely. During the rescue operation, there were also attempts to attack the vehicles of the judicial officers. Visuals showed broken window glass of a car and protesters throwing stones at the vehicles while the officers were being taken to safety.
Taking serious note of the incident, the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that the incident was not just an attack on judicial officers but also a challenge to the authority of the Supreme Court. He said, “calculated and motivated”.
The Court observed that such actions appear to be a deliberate attempt to put pressure on judicial officers and interfere with the legal process.
The Court was informed that the officers were gheraoed at around 3:30 pm and were only released after midnight. Justice Joymalya Bagchi also expressed concern and said that all political leaders should condemn the incident together and ensure that such events do not happen again.
He said,
“We are here to protect the special officers. Their orders are deemed to be orders of our court,” and further added that the Election Commission must “get forces from anywhere and ensure the security of judicial officers”.
The Chief Justice also mentioned that the situation became so serious that the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court had to personally call the Director General of Police and the Home Secretary of the State to make sure that help reached the officers on time. He described the incident and said,
“When they were released after midnight, and they were going to their places, there was stone pelting on their vehicles and attacks by sticks etc,”.
The Supreme Court made it clear that such incidents cannot be tolerated and that strict action must be taken. The Chief Justice strongly remarked,
“This incident is a brazen attempt not only to browbeat judicial officers but also challenges the authority of this court. It was not a routine incident, but appears to be a calculated, motivated move to demoralise the judicial officers and stop the ongoing process of adjudicating objections in the left-out cases,”.
He further said that the Court will not allow anyone to threaten judicial officers or interfere in the legal process. The Court also criticised the West Bengal government for not acting quickly despite being informed about the situation.
The Chief Justice said,
“We will not allow anyone to interfere and take the law into their hands to create a psychological attack on the minds of judicial officers. This is also an abdication of duty by the West Bengal government and the officers need to furnish reasons why, even after being informed, they did not ensure safe evacuation of the officers.”
To prevent such incidents in the future, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission and the State government to ensure proper security arrangements for judicial officers working on the electoral roll revision process. The Court ordered that only a limited number of people should be allowed to enter the premises during hearings and objection filings to avoid crowd situations.
The Court said,
“Home secretary, DGP, district magistrate and all police officials are directed to ensure that not more than two or three persons shall be allowed to enter to file objections or when the hearing takes place, and not more than five people shall be allowed to assemble,”.
The Supreme Court also directed that the incident must be investigated by a central agency. The Court ordered the Election Commission to hand over the investigation to either the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and said that the Court will monitor the investigation.
The Chief Justice said,
“We also direct ECI to entrust the enquiry into yesterday’s incident to either the CBI or NIA. The compliance report shall be submitted to this court. The agency shall be obligated to submit a preliminary enquiry report directly to this court,”.
During the hearing, when the Advocate General of West Bengal argued that the Election Commission should not act like an adversary because the Model Code of Conduct is in force, the Chief Justice made a strong remark about the political situation in the State.
He said,
“Unfortunately, in your state, each one speaks a political language and this is the most polarised state. You are forcing us to make observations. Do you think we are not aware of who the miscreants are? I was monitoring everything till 2 am. Very, very unfortunate.”
The Supreme Court has now made it clear that the safety of judicial officers is a top priority and any attempt to threaten or pressure them will be dealt with strictly. The Court will continue to monitor the investigation and has asked authorities to submit reports directly to the Court.
The incident has raised serious questions about law and order and the protection of officers performing official duties, especially during sensitive election-related work.
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