Seven judicial officers walked into a government office in Malda to verify voter lists. They didn’t walk out for nine hours.
On the night of April 1, protesters in Kaliachak — objecting to names deleted from electoral rolls during the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision exercise — gheraoed the officers at a BDO office and blocked National Highway-12. Three of the seven were women. The Malda District Collector didn’t show up until 11 PM. Security forces used batons to free them around 2 AM.
By morning, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance. And Chief Justice Surya Kant wasn’t diplomatic about it.
‘The Most Polarised State’
The CJI called the incident a “brazen attempt to challenge the authority of this Court” and a “calculated and motivated move to demoralise judicial officers.” Then came the line that will follow Bengal into election season: the Court called West Bengal “the most polarised state.”
The orders matched the language. The SC directed an NIA probe — bypassing state police entirely — and ordered central armed forces deployed to protect all judicial officers doing election-roll work across Bengal. The Election Commission handed the case to NIA the same day.
That’s the Supreme Court saying, in effect: we don’t trust the state to investigate its own crisis. Three weeks before polling begins.
The Blame Game Started Before the Officers Were Rescued
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it a “BJP gameplan” to cancel elections and impose President’s Rule. BJP’s Sukanta Majumdar blamed “provocative statements” by Trinamool Congress. Neither produced evidence. Both got headlines. The episode also exposed cracks in India’s opposition — a familiar pattern of infighting just when coordination matters most.
But the real question isn’t who staged one night in Malda. It’s what happens when West Bengal votes on April 23 knowing that officers doing election work needed baton charges to be rescued — and that the country’s highest court trusted neither the state police nor the administration to handle it.
Seven officers went to check a voter list. It took the Supreme Court, the NIA, and central armed forces to bring them home.