Supreme Court transfers all FIRs filed in judicial officers' gherao case to NIA; notes serious charges against Bengal cops

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the National Investigation Agency to take over the investigations into the incidents in respect of 'gherao' of judicial officers in a village in Malda district in West Bengal during Special Intensive Revision duty on April 1, having noted serious allegations against the state police.

"There are serious allegations against the members of the State/local police. In exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, we direct that the investigation of these FIR be taken over by NIA, irrespective of the offences under which these FIRs have been registered," a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said.

The court ordered for the NIA to take over the probe, saying the allegations warranted an independent probe by a central agency.

The court directed to take over the investigation in the 12 FIRs registered by the local police over the incident, irrespective of the provisions under which the FIRs have been registered.

The bench clarified that regardless of whether the scheduled offences under the NIA Act are attracted or not, the central agency can investigate these matters.

During the hearing, the bench questioned the Chief Secretary over the lack of responsiveness in respect of the incident.

"What is the problem? You don't even entertain the call of the Chief Justice,'' the bench posed the query to the top officer of the state.

In his response, Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala submitted that no call had been made to his phone. In his bid to defend his position, he said that he had travelled to Delhi for a meeting and that he was on a flight between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the relevant time.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, for the officers, sought to explain that the Chief Secretary had been in a meeting with the Election Commission.

The bench, however, told him that calls were probably made during the evening after he had deboarded the flight. The court said that the situation could have been avoided if the Chief Secretary had shared a mobile number and other particulars.

The Chief Secretary replied that the number he used was more secure and had better connectivity. Finally, he has expressed regret, pleading that he was extremely apologetic.

The court, however, asked him to tender an apology to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. The court decided to drop proceedings against the officers, including the DGP in the suo motu case registered as 'In Re : Safety and Security of Judicial Officers deputed for work relating to SIR of Electoral Rolls in the State of West Bengal and Ancillary Issues'.

In its order, the bench said the NIA would be obligated to register further FIRs, if during the course of its investigation, it was found that additional offences had been committed, that the offences had wider dimensions, or if more persons were involved.

"The investigation reports have to be filed before the NIA court at Kolkata. Until then, the NIA is directed to continue submitting status reports to the Supreme Court from time to time," the bench ordered.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the NIA, contended that three incidents were directly related to the judicial officers, engaged in the SIR exercise.

"A total of three FIRs had been registered directly in connection with incidents involving judicial officers, while nine additional FIRs pertained to blockages in the surrounding areas,'' he said.

Raju submitted that there were 12 FIRs registered by the State police in total that the NIA could be permitted to investigate.

In the separate batch of writ petitions challenging SIR, the court directed that in order to bring uniformity in the appellate procedure, it will be appropriate that it is formally prescribed.

"We request the Chief Justice of Calcutta HC to constitute a team of senior most judges to lay down the procedure to be followed by the appellate tribunals," the bench ordered.

The bench said that the Chief Justice of the HC has sent a letter and he has stated that as on April 6, 59 lakhs 15,000 objections were decided by the judicial officers against a total pendency of over 60 lakhs. The CJI also read out a letter from Calcutta HC Chief Justice regarding the progress of SIR and disposal of appeals by the appellate tribunals.

The court scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 13, 2026.