Holding SIR judicial officers hostage in Bengal a ‘calculated attempt’ to disrupt elections: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday (April 2, 2026) found the gheraoing of seven judicial officers involved in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls (SIR) and their being held hostage for over nine hours in West Bengal’s Malda district by a mob a “calculated attempt” to derail the massive exercise on time.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the inaction on the part of the State government was “highly deplorable”. It took suo motu cognisance of the incident.

The officers, including three women, were gheraoed at Kaliachak in Malda since Wednesday (April 1, 2026) afternoon. It required a contingent of police and paramilitary forces to rescue the judicial officers around 1 a.m.

The court issued show-cause notices to senior police officers and officials in the administration, asking why responsible action should not be taken against them.

The State government said the local authorities have been transferred.

Chief Justice Kant said he had never seen such political polarisation as in West Bengal. The CJI said he was awake, making interventions and being briefed on the issue till 2 a.m. on Thursday.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for the State government, requested the court to remove the phrase “complete breakdown of constitutional machinery” from the order.

‘Jungle raj’ in Bengal: ECI

The Election Commission of India (ECI) said nobody had expected that judicial officers would be held at ransom and termed the regime in West Bengal a “jungle raj”.

The court directed the ECI to requisition central forces and deploy them to protect judicial officers involved in the SIR process and government offices that host the electoral roll revision exercise.

The family members of the judicial officers must be protected.

It was reported that the nob consisted of group of voters whose names were deleted from the voter list.

The court said it was inclined to order a CBI or independent investigation into the incident. The order would be passed in the course of the day.