A wave of cyber terror struck West Bengal courts again Wednesday, with bomb threat emails flooding judges’ accounts in multiple districts. Coming hot on the heels of Tuesday’s alerts to seven venues including Calcutta High Court, the incidents have escalated security protocols and ignited a statewide manhunt for the shadowy senders.
Trouble brewed first at West Burdwan’s Asansol Sessions Court: the district judge was warned of a bomb primed for blast-off. Local DCP Dhruba Das orchestrated a rapid exodus, unleashing bomb squads on the site. Suri’s district court in Birbhum echoed the drill, with an email spooking proceedings pre-lunch and clearing the decks.
No bombs surfaced after thorough sweeps ending past 2 PM, pointing fingers at pranksters or rumormongers. Jharkhand’s Dhanbad court joined the fray with its own RDX email scare, underscoring a possible cross-state plot.
Judges and lawyers voice growing unease over the daily dread. In response, Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravarty summoned crisis talks at the secretariat. ‘Courts are safe under our watch,’ she asserted publicly. ‘Ditch the rumors, tip off cops on anything fishy.’
Cyber crime experts are tracing every byte—from sender domains to server logs—to crack the case. Courts now buzz with reinforced defenses: layered checks, rapid response teams, and tech shields. This string of hoaxes not only disrupts justice delivery but signals a sinister bid to undermine public faith in institutions, calling for vigilant, tech-savvy countermeasures.