The Election Commission on Monday furnished in the Supreme Court videos purportedly showing Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamool leaders telling voters they would be beaten up by the central forces deployed by the top court.

After a brief look, an apparently annoyed Supreme Court rhetorically said the central forces “would not be withdrawn” from Bengal.

Senior advocate D. Seshadri Naidu, representing the poll panel before a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant that was hearing an SIR case, alleged that Trinamool leaders were misleading voters about the central forces.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, intervened to say that “democracy was in danger” in Bengal.

He referred to a media interview in which a woman judicial officer had expressed fear for her life and the lives of her family members citing the volatile atmosphere in the state.

“Looking at the way things have happened in the recent past, the central forces will not be withdrawn from West Bengal. If the state machinery fails to discharge its duty, we will see what should be done,” Justice Kant orally observed.

He said a communication from Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul had said that as of noon on Monday, 59.15 lakh of the 60.06 lakh cases under adjudication had been disposed of by the judicial officers.

The bench, which included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi, said it expected the process to be completed by the end of day.

Naidu told the bench that the 19 appellate tribunals were fully functional.

The apex court has dropped the proceedings against Bengal chief secretary Dushyant Nariala, the director-general of police, home secretary, and the Malda district magistrate and superintendent of police.

NIA officials in Malda's Mothabari on Saturday to probe the gherao of judicial officers on SIR duty. PTI

These officials had been accused of inaction when a mob gheraoed seven judicial officers, including three women, for nine hours in Malda over the large-scale deletionof voters.

On Monday, the officials appeared before the court virtually as directed and expressed regret while explaining there was no inaction or deliberate negligence.

Justice Bagchi, however, questioned the chief secretary’s plea of having been on a flight to New Delhi between 2pm and 4pm on that day.

The judge underlined that Justice Paul had made calls to the bureaucrat towards the evening, by when he had got off the flight.

The bench said the unfortunate situation of the high court chief justice being unable to reach the chief secretary could have been avoided had the bureaucrat shared the number of a mobile that had WhatsApp access.

Nariala said the number he had shared with the chief justice was more secure and had better connectivity. But Justice Bagchi was not convinced.

“Is the security so high that even the chief justice of Calcutta High Court cannot access it?” hesaid.

He added sarcastically: “Please lower yourself a bit so that ordinary minions like the chief justice of the high court can access you.”

When Nariala apologised, Justice Bagchi suggested that he tender his apology to the high court chiefjustice.

Justice Kant orally observed that the bureaucracy was in general a pampered lot.