Election Commission hands Malda judicial officers gherao case to NIA ::::: "TMC has mobilised JIHADI elements in the district and orchestrated the protest

 The Election Commission has handed over the investigation into the gherao of seven judicial officers involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Malda to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The incident has intensified political confrontations, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trading blame.  

The Supreme Court intervened after the Malda episode, censuring the state administration and directing the poll panel to deploy central forces at all centres where objections under SIR are being heard.  

State BJP spokesperson Debajit Sarkar said the ruling party instigated the agitation.

“Afraid of losing the elections following the deletion of names of bogus voters, the TMC has mobilised jihadi elements in the district and orchestrated this unconstitutional, illegal agitation, keeping judicial officers, magistrates, including women, confined in extreme heat and humid conditions for hours,” he said.

Protests against the SIR exercise have spread to other districts. In Jalpaiguri, locals blocked NH-27 in Maynaguri, claiming many genuine voters were marked "deleted" or "under adjudication".

The Maynaguri-Lataguri road and Maynaguri-Dhupguri stretch of the Asian Highway at Churabhandar were also blocked.

In Cooch Behar, locals blocked the Cooch Behar-Mathabhanga state highway at Madrasa More in Pachagarh for nearly three hours.

A silent march was organised in Purba Bardhaman’s Shaktigarh, and a memorandum was submitted to the BDO of Bardhaman-II block.  

Officials said the crowd initially sought a meeting with the officers, and when entry was denied, they began demonstrating outside, which soon turned into a prolonged gherao.

The crowd also blocked National Highway-12, the main Kolkata-Siliguri route, alleging large-scale deletions during the SIR exercise.

Security personnel launched a rescue operation after midnight, bringing the judicial officers out late at night. Protesters reportedly tried to stop their vehicles and vandalise the cars.  

Referring to the strong observations made by Supreme Court against the TMC Govt in West Bengal, senior counsel and former MP Mahesh Jethmalani has said that -- 

"That is not just a judicial rebuke. It is an X-ray of Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal, where everything is politicised, institutions are pressured, and even judges cannot do election-related duty without the street being weaponised against them." 

ends