Justice is crying behind closed doors: Mamata to SC; ‘SIR meant for deletion, not inclusion’
New Delhi/Kolkata: In a historic first, with a sitting Chief Minister appearing in person to argue her own plea, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that “justice is crying behind closed doors,” mounting a sharp attack on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which she alleged was aimed solely at deleting voters rather than including them.
Appearing in person before a Bench led by CJI Surya Kant, Banerjee said the exercise had inflicted “unprecedented hardship and distress” on ordinary citizens across Bengal. Dressed in a black shawl over her trademark white saree, the Chief Minister waited for over two hours at the back of the packed courtroom before being allowed to speak.
When her turn came, Banerjee sought five minutes to place her case. The Chief Justice instead granted her 15.
Raising her voice, she accused the Election Commission of India of stonewalling her. “I have written six times to the ECI and got no reply. In the end, we don’t get justice anywhere,” she told the court, warning that the SIR process had become a tool for mass deletion.
The Bench, also comprising Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, issued notice to the poll body and orally cautioned it to act with care while issuing SIR notices. The court reacted to Banerjee’s submission that notices had gone out even to prominent citizens, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and poet Joy Goswami.
Banerjee also alleged that Aadhaar and other documents were being selectively rejected in Bengal while being accepted elsewhere, questioning the timing of the exercise months before elections. She further linked the SIR drive to deaths and hospitalisation of booth-level officers during peak agricultural and travel seasons, asking why similar exercises were not conducted in other states.
As the hearing drew to a close, the Chief Minister folded her hands before the Bench. “Please protect the people’s rights,” she pleaded, alleging that Bengal was being “bulldozed”.
