The Supreme Court of India on Friday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the liberty to file its charge sheet in the “sensational” case involving the illegal confinement of seven judicial officers by a mob in West Bengal’s Malda district on April 1.
A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and including Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, gave the green light after being briefed on the progress of the high-stakes probe. The court also underscored the necessity of maintaining security for hundreds of judicial officers currently deployed for electoral duties in the state.
The case stems from a night of violence on April 1, when a mob illegally confined seven judicial officers—including three women and a five-year-old child—for over nine hours. The officers were left without food or water during the ordeal.
The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter after receiving a letter from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court detailing the incident. The officers were in Malda as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, an massive administrative undertaking involving 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand tasked with resolving over 60 lakh objections regarding voter list exclusions.
Following a complaint by the Election Commission and subsequent instructions from the apex court, the NIA took over the investigation.
During Friday’s proceedings, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the NIA, submitted a fresh status report outlining the evidence gathered so far. He informed the bench that investigators would be “neck-deep into the investigation” in the coming weeks.
Accepting the submission, the bench stated, “The NIA will be at liberty to file chargesheet in a court of competent jurisdiction.”
Recognizing the intensity of the ongoing probe, the court permitted the NIA to skip filing further status reports for the time being.
The Supreme Court has maintained a sharp focus on the intent behind the mob’s actions. During the hearings, the Chief Justice inquired whether those arrested by the NIA for the “gherao” possessed any political backgrounds, remarking that the matter “has to be taken to a logical conclusion.”
The safety of the judiciary remains a priority for the bench. On April 13, the court had ruled that the security cover provided to all judicial officers engaged in the SIR process in West Bengal must remain in place. This protection is mandated to continue until the conclusion of the upcoming assembly elections and cannot be withdrawn without the Supreme Court’s prior permission.
