Malda incident ‘calculated & motivated, says SC, pulls up West Bengal govt

Terming West Bengal as the “most polarised state”, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to deploy Central forces for the protection of judicial officers engaged in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, after seven judicial officers including three women judges – engaged in the special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state – were gheraoed for several hours in Malda district on Wednesday evening by the protesters protesting against the deletion of their names from the electoral rolls.

Pulling up the West Bengal government and the district authorities, including the district magistrate and the superintendent of police, for not responding to the situation promptly and rescuing the judicial officers, the top court termed the incident at Malda as “calculated and motivated”.

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Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident and holding an urgent hearing, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi said that the incident was a “brazen attempt not only to browbeat the judicial officers” but also “a challenge to the authority of the apex court”. The court termed it an abdication of duty by the West Bengal government and its officers.

The court noted that the gherao of the office of Block Development Officer (BDO), where the judicial officers were working, started around 3:30 pm and continued till midnight. It also noted that despite repeated calls from the Calcutta High Court, no action was taken till late evening. It also noted that the senior district officials failed to respond promptly to the situation, and even after the rescue of the judicial officers, there were reports of attacks on their vehicles.

Describing the incident as a “calculated and motivated” attempt to demoralise the judicial officers engaged in overseeing the adjudication of claims and objections arising from the list of ‘logical discrepancy’ in the names, the court said that it was a brazen attempt not only to browbeat judicial officers but also challenges authority of the top Court.

In the course of the hearing, the Chief Justice Surya Kant told the Advocate General of West Bengal Kishore Datta that it was a most polarised State and everyone speaks in political language.

Having expressed its concern over the security and safety of the judicial officers engaged in the SIR exercise, the court directed the ECI to deploy Central forces to ensure safe functioning of judicial officers, including providing security at their residences in cases where there is any perceived threat to them or their families. Such threat perceptions are to be assessed immediately, and necessary protective measures put in place without delay.

Additionally, both the ECI and the State government have been tasked with taking all necessary steps to ensure that judicial officers can carry out their duties without obstruction or fear.

Further, senior administrative and police officials, including the Home Secretary, Director General of Police, district magistrates and other authorities, have been instructed to regulate access to proceedings by limiting the number of persons entering premises—restricting it to two or three individuals for filing objections and not more than five during hearings. Adequate arrangements must be made to enforce these limits.

The Chief Secretary, DGP and the State Chief Electoral Officer have also been directed to submit a compliance report on the implementation of these measures.