NEW DELHI: Taking strong exception to the attack on judicial officers complying with its order to adjudicate objections regarding exclusion from voter list in West Bengal’s Malda district, Supreme Court on Thursday said there is breakdown of law and order in the state and issued show-cause notice to the chief secretary, DGP, district magistrate and SP to explain why action should not be taken against them.

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SC said it was a “deliberate and calculated” attempt to demoralise the judicial officers and obstruct them from discharging their duty. This cannot be tolerated, it said and directed the Election Commission to seek deployment of central forces for the protection of the officers and their families in the state. SC also directed that a central agency, either CBI or NIA, probe the incident.SC recorded in its order the harrowing experience which the seven judicial officers, of whom three were women, had to go through when they were ‘gheraoed’ by anti-social elements and held hostage till midnight.