Supreme Court asks Bangladesh’s top bureaucrat to apologize for siege of SIR officials in Malda

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday opened an inquiry into the Malda incident over the West Bengal chief secretary’s “failure to answer calls” from the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court and asked him to apologize.The Supreme Court on Thursday took strong exception to the attack on the judicial officer of West Bengal’s Malda district while ruling against exclusion from the electoral roll, saying law and order had broken down in the state and issued show-cause notices to the chief secretary, attorney general, district magistrate and Samajwadi Party asking why action should not be taken against them.

The court termed the incident as a “deliberate and planned” attempt to demoralize judicial officers and hinder them from discharging their duties and said such behavior will not be tolerated. It directs the Election Commission to seek deployment of central forces to protect officials and their families and orders a probe by a central agency (CBI or National Intelligence Agency).The Supreme Court also recorded that seven judicial officials, including three women, were held hostage by anti-social elements till midnight.“In our considered view, and keeping in view the ensuing circumstances, the incident that occurred yesterday (Wednesday) was not only a blatant act of intimidation of the judicial officers but also a challenge to the authority of this court. This cannot be regarded as a routine incident and prima facie, it appears to be a well-thought-out, well-planned and deliberate act to demoralize the judicial officers and hamper the ongoing adjudication of objections,” said Justice Surya Kant, CJI. said Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi.The SC said that the chief secretary, home secretary, DGP, DM and SP behaved in a very regrettable manner and they need to explain why no effective steps were taken to ensure safe evacuation despite being informed at 3.30 pm.“We have no hesitation in saying that we will not allow anyone to take the law into their hands and thereby create an atmosphere of psychological fear in the minds of judicial officers discharging their duties. Such conduct amounts to contempt of court under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and reflects the utter failure of the civil administration and police administration in maintaining law and order in Malda.”