'You Don’t Even Take Chief Justice's Calls': Supreme Court Raps Top Bengal Officer Over Malda Incident

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday lashed out at West Bengal’s Chief Secretary and Director General of Police over their conduct during the incident at Malda, during which judicial officers involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) adjudication process were gheraoed for nine hours. The incident reportedly led the Chief Justice to intervene on the same day.

“What’s the problem, Mr Chief Secretary? You don’t even take the call of the Chief Justice?” the court asked. In response, the Chief Secretary said that he was in Delhi for a meeting and did not receive any calls from Kolkata. Hitting back, Justice Bagchi said, “The calls would have come in the evening it would have been extremely helpful to the Chief Justice and the High Court administration if you had shared your mobile numbers.”

The Chief Secretary responded saying that his number was available. However, Justice Bagchi issued a sharp retort saying, “You cannot be so high that the Chief Justice has no access to you. Please lower yourselves so that even the Chief Justice can connect to you.”

The court even asked both the Chief Secretary and the DGP to issue a written apology to the Chief Justice of the High Court. “You must apologise it is the sheer failure of your civilian administration and the police authorities that we had to give powers to the judicial officers,” it said. The court said that the Chief Secretary could not be reached despite "hours of efforts” at the time when seven judicial officers were held hostage at Malda, adding that the violence was pre-planned and motivated.

In a strongly worded remark, the CJI said, “This is the way bureaucracy works! In this state there is chaos.” The CJI mentioned that while the incident sparked off at 3:30 pm, it only came to his notice at 11:30 pm. “Till then what all could have happened, thousands of people were allowed to assemble and keep assembling,” he said.

On Police Response

Reacting sharply on the inadequate police response during the time of the incident, the court referred to submissions that the district magistrate and superintendent of police were present.

“They were just watching when the registry contacted the SP, he said what can I do, there are women present — if we act, we will be killing women,” Justice Bagchi said. 

The Supreme Court asked the Chief Secretary and the DGP to fully cooperate with the Chief Justice until the SIR process is completed in the state.

What Happened At Malda

Tension erupted in West Bengal's Malda after seven SIR judicial officers were taken hostage by protesters for nearly 9 hours, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance. The top court strongly criticised the Mamata Banerjee administration for its failure to prevent the incident, calling it a "complete failure" of law and order. The incident flared up tensions between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission, ahead of the upcoming state Assembly elections.

The poll body has handed over the investigation into the hostage crisis in Malda to the National Investigation Agency. 

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