The shocking incident in West Bengal, where seven judicial officers were held hostage by people upset because their names were deleted from the voter list, challenges the authority of the Supreme Court and appears to be “calculated and motivated”, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said today. The court also remarked that Bengal is the “most polarised state”.
The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission of India to get the incident probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency, and added that it will monitor the probe.
Seven judicial officers, three of them women, were held hostage for over nine hours in Bengal’s Malda by a group of voters whose names were deleted from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
The officers were gheraoed yesterday afternoon and rescued only around 1 am today, when a massive contingent of police and paramilitary personnel rescued them to safety.
There was also an attempt to attack the vehicles during the evacuation. Visuals show a car’s shattered window glass and angry protesters hurling stones at the cars as the cops moved the judicial officers to safety.
The Chief Justice noted that the officers were gheraoed at 3.30 pm and the officers were rescued only after midnight. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said all political leaders need to condemn yesterday’s incident in one voice. “We are here to protect the special officers. Their orders are deemed to be orders of our court,” he said. Justice Bagchi then said the Election Commission must “get forces from anywhere and ensure the security of judicial officers”.
The Chief Justice of India said the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court had to call the DGP and the Home Secretary to ensure help reaches the officers. “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,” he said.
“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 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.”
The court directed the Election Commission and the state government to take all steps to ensure the safety of the judicial officers as they work to complete the task entrusted to them.
“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,” it 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,” the Chief Justice said.
When Kishore Dutta, the Advocate General of West Bengal, said the Election Commission should not be acting as an adversary in this matter because the model code of conduct is in force, the Chief Justice replied, “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.”
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later told the media that law and order is not under the state government’s control as the model code of conduct is in force. “The law and order are not in my hand, the administration is not in my hand. The Election Commission is monitoring everything. My officials have been changed,” she said.