Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 6: The Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded Mr Dushyant Nariala, the West Bengal chief secretary appointed by the Election Commission of India for the Assembly poll period in connections with the “gherao” of seven judicial officers in Malda district last week even as holding the incident as “pre-planned and motivated.”
The state’s top bureaucrat received a sharp reprimand from the apex court for his failure to respond to even urgent calls from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court as the judicial officers were held hostage in a government office building in Mothabari village in Malda district. When the advocate for the official replied that he was on a flight and did not get any call, the court said he would have got a call in the evening if he had shared his number.
As the counsel started explaining, the irked judge said, “Don’t defend him.” The top court also called for the case to be investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) saying the ‘local police can’t be trusted.’ The court ordered that 26 people arrested by West Bengal police in connection with the Malda incident be interrogated by the NIA.
The incident had set off a political slugfest between Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and the BJP, with Ms Banerjee also alleging that the Malda incident was “pre-planned” and blamed the BJP for it. “They [BJP] are conspiring to stall the elections. They are flagging one incident and alleging that the law and order have deteriorated across the state. If you allow one incident to happen, the entire state would be maligned.”
The Chief Justice of India Surya Kant told the West Bengal Chief Secretary and DGP that a lack of communication by them had caused trouble. “Even the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court could not get in touch with the Chief Secretary when judicial officers were gheraoed by a mob. The Chief Secretary says his mobile phone is secure,” he said. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said his phone should not be so highly secure that even the CJ of the HC is not able to access him. The CJI says the bureaucracy is so “pampered.”
The top court, which went through the report of the NIA, which was tasked with the Malda incident investigation by the ECI at the behest of the apex court, on the hostage situation, said the matter Central agency would take over the case entirely from the local police. “The local police is directed to handover the papers of investigation and case diaries to the NIA. It is further directed to provide any logistical support or assistance that will be required by NIA for undertaking the ongoing investigation. Persons arrested by local police so far shall be interrogated by NIA and their custody shall be handed over to NIA,” said Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The court then turned its attention to Chief Secretary Nariala, who was appointed by the Election Commission days before to replace Nandini Chakravorty. He was in charge when seven judicial officials were held hostage in Malda on April 1. “Your security is so high that even a High Court Chief Justice cannot reach you! Please lower it a bit!” Justice Joymalya Bagchi told the Chief Secretary. “What is the problem? you don’t even entertain the call of the chief justice of high court?” he added.
“There was no call made from officers of Calcutta to my phone. I had come to Delhi for a meeting. From 2 pm to 4 pm, I was on a flight,” the official replied. “Calls were probably made during the evening. If you had been kind enough to share a mobile number and other particulars,” the judge shot back. When the official argued that the number is “more secure and its connectivity is better,” and apologised, Justice Bagchi said, “Issue an apology to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.”
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who led the three-judge bench, said it was “sheer failure of both you and your administration. Because of your lack of action, the Election Commission of India is kept in the dust.”
“You don’t communicate to the Election Commission of India, which is entrusted with giving directions to you in cases of emergency like this and this missing link created so much of difficulty and disturbance in the state. What kind of credibility is this?” he added.
When the counsel representing the official offered that he was “in a meeting with the Election Commission,” Justice Kant said, “Please do not defend him. This very strong obstinate character of bureaucracy — we are facing it in other states also.” “Only because of CJI Surya Kant’s intervention in Malda that day, something unfortunate was avoided,” Justice Bagchi added.
The judges, however, said they did not wish to take any further action against the officials. “We hope that the officers have now well understood the sense of responsibility in which they were expected to respond and provide assistance to the Chief Justice of High Court when judicial officers were made hostages. We don’t wish to take further actions,” the court added.
The seven judicial officers — three of them women — were held hostage on April 1 by a crowd that was upset because their names were deleted from the voter list. Gheraoed in the afternoon, the officials – who were sent to track the voter list revision – were rescued only around 1 am by a massive contingent of police and paramilitary personnel. CJI Kant, who was monitoring the events till 2 am and helped resolve the crisis, had said it appeared to be “calculated and motivated” and challenged the authority of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had on March 10 asked the West Bengal Government and the Election Commission to provide all logistical support to judicial officers in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the State. The bench said judicial officers, deployed in the SIR process, so far have dealt with 10.16 lakh objections and claims of those facing deletion from the electoral rolls.
The Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court wrote to the Supreme Court, stating that over 10 lakh objections from those facing deletion from the electoral roll in the ongoing SIR exercise in the State. Over 500 judicial officers from West Bengal are functioning as Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), and are working overnight, cancelling holidays and even Sundays, it was noted. 200 judicial officers have been drawn from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand.
The court also asked the Election Commission to provide more logistical support for the process of verifying claims and objections. The court also said that updated voter lists should be provided in every district of West Bengal.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju representing the NIA told the court that the agency had conducted a preliminary enquiry. “Three FIRs have been filed directly involving judicial officers. Nine other FIRs were filed for causing blockades in several places. 24 are accused. CDR analysis for 432 persons has been requisitioned. Let local police hand over the cases to the NIA. The Local police lodged FIRs.”
Chief Justice Calcutta High Court told the Supreme Court that as of 12:04 p.m. on April 6, over 59.15 lakh out of over 60 lakh objections have been decided by the judicial officers in West Bengal SIR.
Meanwhile addressing election meetings, Ms Banerjee warned people against taking the law into their own hands. “The CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and NIA [National Investigation Agency] will arrest you before the polls. They have deleted the names of many voters. Whatever remains will also go away. The law is not in my hands. They have snatched all my powers. The ECI is running a super President’s rule by snatching all my powers,” she said.
Malda, a bordering and Muslim-majority district, has the second-highest number of cases under adjudication by judicial officers after Murshidabad. While there are 11,01,145 such cases in Murshidabad, Malda, with 8,28,127 cases, comes second.