Bengal : There was tension in the judicial corridors of West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon when six major district courts, including Kolkata, received email threats to blow them up. The courts of Hooghly, Burdwan and Murshidabad, including Kolkata’s City Civil Court and Bankshall Court, were evacuated in a hurry. After a thorough investigation by sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads, no explosives were found anywhere. This incident is a big security challenge amid the voter list revision work in the state.
Chaos in the courts
Let us tell you that as soon as the email was received, judicial work came to a complete halt in courts like Kolkata, Chinsurah, Asansol and Durgapur. The police immediately evacuated the buildings as per security protocol. After an intensive search that lasted till 2 pm, officials confirmed that it was only a fake call or hook email. This incident created fear among lawyers and litigants. As a precautionary measure, very strict and concrete security arrangements have been made in other important courts of the state also.
Special intervention of Supreme Court
These threats came at a time when the judges of the state were busy in the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) process as directed by the Supreme Court. In view of the discrepancies in the voter list, the Supreme Court has roped in judicial officers from neighboring states Odisha and Jharkhand along with judges from Bengal. The main objective of this campaign is to settle the disputed claims and logical discrepancies related to about 60 lakh voters. Due to the judges being busy with this important work, security concerns are being taken very seriously.
Activity of cyber crime wing
The state cyber crime wing has intensified technical investigation to trace the source of the threatening email. District Judge Devprasad Nath of Durgapur Court clarified that the courts were evacuated only as per security standards. The administration is also seeing this as a well-planned conspiracy to disrupt the SIR process. Police officials say that efforts are on to reach the culprits through digital footprints so that it can be clear who is behind this.
assurance of security and continuity
After a high-level meeting held in Nabanna, Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, DGP Piyush Pandey and Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar held a joint press conference. He assured the people of the state and the judicial officers that there is no need to be afraid of any threat. The government has promised that the SIR exercise will not be affected at any cost. The Supreme Court had also already given very strict and clear instructions to the state government to provide complete security to all serving and retired judicial officers.
Conspiracy or just a rumor
There is a long standing dispute between the state government and the Election Commission regarding voter list amendment in West Bengal. In such a situation, fake bomb threats could be an attempt to intimidate judicial officers or slow down the SIR process. This reform work involving 60 lakh voters is essential for fair elections. The administration has made it clear that it will not come under any pressure and the work of making the voter list transparent will be completed within the stipulated time limit.
Comments are closed.