The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered 12 cases to investigate the gherao of judicial officers in West Bengal’s Malda district, an incident that occurred during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The move follows a directive from the Supreme Court.
In a late-night statement, the NIA said it has “re-registered 07 FIRs of PS Mothabari and 05 FIRs of PS Kalichak of District Malda, West Bengal for investigation”, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order dated April 6. The order relates to the safety and security of judicial officers working on the SIR process and other law-and-order incidents in Malda.
“The investigation teams of NIA already moved to Malda for thorough investigation of these cases,” the statement added.
SC takes suo-motu cognisance of case
The Supreme Court on Monday took suo-motu cognisance of a letter from the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, which described a harrowing night when seven judicial officers, including three women and a five-year-old child, were held captive by a mob for over nine hours without food or water.
Cases transferred to NIA
The incident took place in the Kaliachowk area of Malda district. The top court described it as a “well-planned and motivated” attack by “anti-social elements”. Exercising its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi transferred 12 cases related to the April 1 incident to the NIA.
SC rebukes state government
The apex court criticised the state administration, noting that the incident “also exposes a complete failure of the state administration” and called it a “brazen attempt not only to browbeat the judicial officers” but also a challenge to the Supreme Court’s authority.
The bench instructed the West Bengal Police to hand over all 26 arrested accused to the NIA along with case papers, stating that local police “could not be trusted” in this matter. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP) of West Bengal, informed the court that the key accused, Mofakerrul Islam and Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Ali Qadri, had already been arrested and were in custody.
The court also reprimanded West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala, directing him to apologise to the chief justice of the high court for failing to respond to calls on the day of the incident.
