ISF candidate among 18 held for jud officers’ gherao

Malda: Police arrested 18 people on Thursday — including Maulana Shahjahan Ali, the ISF candidate for Mothabari — for violence, arson and the eight-hour gherao of seven judicial officers, three of them women, at the Kaliachak-II block office. A local court remanded all 18 to 10 days in police custody. A manhunt is underway to identify other suspects from CCTV footage.Wednesday's incident was the sharpest escalation yet of a crisis that has gripped Malda's Mothabari, a minority-dominated constituency, since Feb 28, when the final electoral roll was published. Of 1.9 lakh voters, over 79,000 — more than 40% — fell under the adjudication category.As supplementary lists have been published, a large number of those names have been deleted outright. Similar deletions have been reported in the neighbouring constituencies of Sujapur, English Bazar and Manikchak.On Wednesday, protests against the mass deletions broke out across the district — in Ratua, Sujapur, Amrity and Mothabari — paralysing traffic across a wide area. In Sujapur, villagers gathered outside the block office where judicial magistrates were conducting Special Intensive Revision duties, with Congress candidate Abdul Hannan and TMC candidate Sabina Yeasmin joining the agitation.Protesters blocked NH-12, severing the road link between south and north Bengal. Blockades were also reported at Birnagar and Jalalpur.At Kaliachak-II block office, a separate protest led by Congress candidate Sayem Choudhury adopted the slogan, "First the right to vote, then the election."The agitation subsided briefly before resuming after 3pm, when anger turned towards the judicial magistrates conducting SIR work inside.Villagers alleged that names were being deleted arbitrarily — citing the case of two brothers living in different panchayat areas who submitted identical documents but faced different outcomes.The situation turned critical when the judicial officers were blocked from leaving the office. Alerts were sent to HC and EC, but reinforcements did not arrive until 11:30pm. The crowd outside continued to swell. Around 12:15am, the DM and SP arrived with a large force and secured the release of the judicial officers.Agitators were assured their grievances would be addressed within four days. One person, Aleham Sk of Mothabari, was injured by a car and taken to Malda Medical College.The arrest of Shahjahan drew sharp reactions from ISF and CPM. The ISF alleged police broke down his door and arrested him along with his two sons, calling the action "completely illegal."The party claimed it was a conspiracy to prevent him from filing his nomination — scheduled for Thursday — and appealed to the Election Commission to ensure he could do so without obstruction. CPM's Koushik Mishra called it "a most undemocratic incident," adding that those agitating had every right to demand inclusion in the voter list.Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh trained his fire on the EC. "A plot is being hatched to create chaos. The EC has removed officers one after another — from the chief secretary to the home secretary, from the CP to the DG. An unwritten emergency has been imposed, and yet answers about law and order are being sought from Mamata Banerjee's govt?"