Bengal SIR: Security for judicial officers to continue; SC asks NIA if those arrested for Apr 1 incident had political background

14/04/2026

NEW DELHI, Apr 13: The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear that the security cover provided to judicial officers engaged in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal will remain in place until the conclusion of the upcoming assembly election and cannot be withdrawn without its prior permission.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also wanted to know if those arrested by the NIA for the April 1 gherao of seven judicial officers in Malda district "had any political background", with the CJI saying "this has to be taken to a logical conclusion".
The CJI declined to pass any order on fixing a timeline for the 19 appellate tribunals to decide the appeals of deleted voters.
As many as 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand are deployed in the ongoing SIR process to deal with over 60 lakh objections of those excluded from the voter list.
The top court had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter from the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court detailing a harrowing incident of April 1 night, where judicial officers, including three women, and a five-year-old child were held captive by a mob for over nine hours without food or water.
On Monday, the bench, in its order, said, “We direct the Election Commission and the West Bengal government to ensure that the security cover, which is already provided to the judicial officers, is not withdrawn without prior permission of this court.”
The bench, however, said this order will not be applicable to the judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha who have left West Bengal to resume their judicial work in their respective states.
The CJI referred to the letter of April 13, sent by the chief justice of the high court and pointed out that the SIR exercise had commenced in the first week of February and the judicial officers have done a “herculean task of deciding 60 lakh objections”.
“Only 1,823 claims are pending due to technical reasons and the chief justice has pointed out that in deference to our order, a committee of three former CJs/Judges was set up to hear appeals (against the decisions of the judicial officers),” the order further noted.
The three-member committee has developed an SOP to be followed by all the 19 appellate tribunals, it said.
“There was no reason to doubt that former CJs/judges who have agreed to be part of the appellate tribunals will also be able to complete the task within a reasonable time and all stakeholders will extend cooperation even in this regard,” it said.
The letter of the chief justice also highlighted the concerns related to security cover needed by the judicial officers engaged in the SIR exercise.
During the proceedings, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati submitted an interim report on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which recently took over the probe into the "deplorable" gherao of seven judicial officers in Malda district on April 1, an incident the court previously termed a "brazen attempt to browbeat the judiciary".
Bhati informed the bench that the NIA has conducted technical examinations and made further arrests.
While acknowledging that the West Bengal government has extended cooperation to the central agency, the bench emphasised that the investigation must be thorough.
"We want to know if any of these people arrested had any political background," the CJI said, adding, "We don’t want this to be an academic exercise. This has to be taken to a logical conclusion."
The CJI-led bench placed on record its "appreciation and acknowledgement" for the judicial officers and the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court for completing the massive task of adjudicating 60,04,000 claims and objections regarding the electoral rolls.
According to a report submitted by the Calcutta HC Chief Justice, only 1,823 cases remain pending due to technical reasons.
The CJI noted that the judicial officers worked through weekends and holidays to meet the deadline.
"We appreciate the zeal and enthusiasm of the judicial officers. We have no reason to doubt that the former Chief Justices and judges (on the Appellate Tribunals) will continue the work to uphold the process of due process," the CJI said.
The bench was informed that the 19 Appellate Tribunals, tasked with hearing appeals against the inclusion or exclusion of names in the voter list, began functioning today, April 13.
A three-member committee of former judges has developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be followed by all tribunals. However, a brief exchange occurred regarding the volume of appeals.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the petitioners, claimed that 16 lakh appeals had been filed and urged the bench to allow these individuals to vote.
Justice Bagchi corrected the figure and said that the report from the Calcutta High Court CJ indicates nearly 34 lakh appeals are pending.
The CJI declined to pass any orders that would disrupt the current electoral timeline, stating, "We cannot create a situation where we burden the appellate tribunal judges."

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