Watch | 'Lower yourself a little bit': Supreme Court pulls up Bengal Chief Secretary for not taking Calcutta HC Chief Justice's call

Apex court transfers Malda gherao case to NIA; seven judicial officials, working on voter lists, were reportedly held captive for over seven-and-a-half hours by a group of protesters at the BDO office.

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the probe into the gherao of seven judicial officers in Malda district in West Bengal.

Seven judicial officials, working on voter lists, were reportedly held captive for over seven-and-a-half hours by a group of protesters at the BDO office.
The Supreme Court exercised its plenary power to transfer the case.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that the credibility of West Bengal bureaucracy is being lowered and politics is being brought into the secretariat and government offices.

They ordered that 26 people arrested by the state police in connection with the Malda incident be interrogated by the NIA even if they are in judicial custody.

The top court pulled up West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala for not picking up the calls of the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice on the day of the incident.

"Lower yourself a little bit so that the Calcutta High Court chief justice can reach you. Give your apology to him."

The bench told the Chief Secretary, "It is a sheer failure of the administration of West Bengal. What kind of credibility do the senior officers of the West Bengal bureaucracy have? It is being lowered. Politics is being brought into the State secretariat and government offices."

The bench asked the chief secretary to apologise to the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice for not taking the calls and said it represents the failure of the district administration.

The top court said the Malda incident, in which judicial officers engaged in SIR work were gheraoed for hours, was actually pre-planned and motivated.

Seven hundred judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand were deployed in the ongoing SIR process to deal with over 60 lakh objections of those who are excluded from the voter lists during the SIR process.

(With PTI inputs)