A three-member Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant observed that there was an abdication of duty by the state and its officials. It termed the gherao – during which the officers were held hostage for over nine hours – a “calculated attempt” to derail the SIR exercise.Also Read: Mamata Banerjee seeks Amit Shah’s resignation, calls Malda incident a ‘conspiracy’
The Bench orally remarked that West Bengal is the “most polarised” state, where “everyone speaks in political language”. It directed the deployment of central armed forces to ensure the safety of judicial officers engaged in the SIR exercise.
The development came after the Bench on Thursday took suo motu cognisance of the incident following a letter from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. According to the letter, seven judicial officers, including three women, were gheraoed by villagers in a Malda district village while performing SIR adjudication duties.
The judicial officers were held hostage from 3.30 pm till midnight and were released only after the High Court Chief Justice appealed to the state administration for urgent intervention. The letter further stated that the administration was tardy in its response. When the officers were evacuated at midnight, their vehicles were pelted with stones and attacked with bamboo sticks.
“This incident is a brazen attempt not only to browbeat judicial officers but also to challenge the authority of this court. It is not a routine incident, but appears to be a calculated and motivated move to demoralise judicial officers and stall the ongoing process of adjudicating objections in left-out cases. We will not allow anyone to interfere or take the law into their hands to create psychological pressure on judicial officers,” the Bench said.
The Bench added that it was also “an abdication of duty by the West Bengal government” and said the officers concerned must furnish reasons as to why, despite being informed, they failed to ensure the safe evacuation of the judicial officers.
The Bench also handed over the probe into the incident to central agencies, directing the Election Commission of India (ECI) to entrust the investigation either to the Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Investigation Agency.Also Read: Malda gherao case handed to NIA; CEC pulls up Bengal police over delay“The compliance report shall be submitted to this Court. The agency shall be obligated to submit a preliminary enquiry report directly to this Court,” the Bench ordered.
After the order was dictated, West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Datta contended that the ECI should not act as an adversary.
In a sharp response, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarked orally, “Mr Advocate General, now you are compelling us. Unfortunately, in your state, each one of you speaks political language. That is the most unfortunate thing. We have never seen such a polarised state… Do you think we are not aware of who the miscreants are? I was monitoring everything till 2 am. Very, very unfortunate.”
