Escaping the Gherao: Inside the 9-Hour Rescue of Bengal’s Judicial Officers

In a shocking midnight operation just ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, security personnel managed to rescue seven judicial officials and a five-year-old child from a besieged government office in Malda early Thursday morning.

The judicial officials, including three women, were being held hostage for more than nine hours at the Kaliachak-II Block Development Office (BDO) in Malda by an irate mob of protesters against the large-scale deletion of names from the electoral rolls.

The hostage drama began at 4:00 PM on Wednesday when hundreds of people surrounded the BDO office in Kaliachak-II. The judicial officials were there to hear “logical discrepancy” cases under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a court-mandated exercise in which more than 63 lakh names have been struck off the electoral rolls in Bengal.
The protesters, who claimed they were wrongly excluded from the voters list, have blocked National Highway 12 by burning tires and pieces of furniture, disrupting connectivity between North and South Bengal. The judicial officials and the child inside the besieged BDO office were denied food and water as the protesters would not allow them to leave the premises until they were allowed to vote.

After a direct intervention by the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court and supervision by the Supreme Court till 2:00 AM, a huge police force and Rapid Action Force personnel launched a rescue operation around 1:00 AM.

The rescue operation became violent as the mob threw stones at the police convoy. Pictures emerged showing police windshields smashed and security personnel forming a human shield to escort traumatized police officers to safety.

The Supreme Court on Thursday termed the incident a “deplorable” attack on judicial authority. The incident has been termed a “calculated and motivated” attempt to browbeat the judiciary. This was stated by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.

• Probe Ordered: The Supreme Court indicated that it may order a CBI or NIA probe into the incident.
• Security Concerns: The Supreme Court directed the deployment of central forces to protect judicial officers engaged in the SIR process across the state.

This incident shows the volatile situation in West Bengal as the state prepares to go to polls in its two-phase election on April 23 and 29. Although the ruling Trinamool Congress has staged massive rallies against the “unprecedented” removal of voters from the electoral rolls, the opposition BJP has accused the state government of not maintaining law and order.
As of Thursday morning, Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) remains in place in parts of Malda to prevent further assembly.