Attack On Judges During West Bengal SIR Duty: Supreme Court Directs NIA Probe; Slams Chief Secretary, DGP

The Supreme Court today came down heavily on the Chief Secretary of West Bengal over his lackadaisical approach in dealing with the incidents of judicial officers on SIR duty being gheraoed in Malda.

"Mr. Chief Secretary what is the problem..you don't even take the call of the Chief Justice..", a miffed CJI Surya Kant asked the Chief Secretary who appeared before his bench virtually.

"Please lower your security a bit so that ordinary citizens like the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court can access you..", Justice Joymalya Bagchi told the Chief Secretary.

Later when the Chief Secretary apologized, the CJI said, "It is because of your failure and the police failure that the task was given to Judicial officers. What kind of credibility is the west Bengal bureaucracy having. Please help in improving the image". Court also asked him to apologize to the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court.

Court also pulled up the district magistrate and SP of Malda who were present at the site of gherao saying, "..yes they were watching it. When we asked why no action.. SP said woman were there what can we do. This is the level of preparedness and intelligence. It was only because of timely intervention of chief justice of India that something very untoward was avoided that night."

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju was also present before Court on behalf of NIA which has been entrusted with the enquiry into the incidents. "We are informed that election commission entrusted the enquiry to NIA. NIA has filed a preliminary status report in sealed cover. We find that FIRs mentioned was registered by state police and there are serious allegations against state/local police. We direct NIA to take over the FIRs irrespective of reasons therein. Thus under article 142 we direct such FIRs to be taken over by NIA. NIA shall be at liberty to register more FIRs if the offence illustratively referred to in our order have involvement of other persons. Let the investigation report be submitted before the NIA court in Kolkata. However before chargesheet is filed, status report shall be submitted before this court giving report of investigation from time to time," court recorded in its order.

The matter will now be taken up after a week.

On April 2, after serious incidents occurred in Malda where judicial officers were allegedly attacked and held hostage during electoral roll revision work, the Chief Justice of India had called West Bengal a highly polarized state.

"Unfortunately in West Bengal each one speaks political language and this is the most polarized state. You are forcing us to make observations. Do you think we are not aware of who the miscreants are..", CJI Surya Kant noted today while issuing directions after the incidents of violence occurred in West Bengal.

The Supreme Court had expressed concern over the safety of officials and the rising political tensions in the state, indicating that such incidents could undermine the rule of law. Slamming the state government over their non-responsive attitude, the CJI had said, "I don't want to politicize it. But we got reports since 2 am. At 5 pm they gheraoed the officers and till 11 pm there was no one".

Supreme Court has said the incident is a brazen attempt not only to browbeat judicial officers but also challenges authority of this court. It said this was not a routine incident but appeared to be calculated, motivated move to demoralize the judicial officers and stop the ongoing process. "We will not allow anyone to interfere and take law in their hands in order to create psychological attack on mind of judicial officers. This is also an abdication of duty by West Bengal government and the officers need to furnish reasons why even after being informed they did not ensure safe evacuation of the judicial officers", the court recorded.

Accordingly, the bench also comprising Justices Bagchi and Pancholi had ordered that ECI will requisition adequate Central Forces and deploy them at all places where judicial officers are adjudicating the objections. The ECI and the State Government has also been directed to take all remedial measures for the safe functioning of the task entrusted to the judicial officers. If any judicial officer has apprehension of security of his family, such threat perception is to be immediately assessed, and adequate measures are to be taken. Police officers have been directed to ensure that not more than 3-5 persons will enter the premises where adjudication work is going on for filing objections. The ECI has also been directed to entrust the investigation of the incidents to an independent agency, CBI or the NIA as suitable.

Recently, Supreme Court had expressed its concerns over continuous impediments coming in the way of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls being conducted in the state of West Bengal by the Election Commission of India. "I was reading an article on SIR. Except West Bengal, everywhere it has happened smoothly...The article mentioned this", CJI Kant said while hearing fresh issues flagged by the state.

Court has been hearing a batch of petitions challenging the SIR process in West Bengal, including a petition filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The state government has questioned the manner in which the voter roll revision is being carried out, raising concerns over potential deletions and the deployment of micro-observers. The bench had asked the West Bengal government to extend full cooperation to the Election Commission and questioned delays in providing manpower requested by the poll body. The court specifically flagged the timing and manner in which the state had communicated the availability of officers for the exercise, indicating dissatisfaction with the response.

Case Title: IN RE: SAFETY AND SECURITY OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS DEPUTED FOR WORK RELATING TO SIR OF ELECTORAL ROLLS IN THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANCILLARY ISSUES Vs

Bench: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi

Hearing Date: April 6, 2026