Prior to 1813, Malda had no existence as a separate district and generally the river Mahananda formed then the boundary between the districts of Purnea and Dinajpur. During the time of Dr. Buchanan Hamilton (1808-09), the Police Stations of Gajol, Bamangola, Malda and part -of Habibpur i.e. the north-eastern part of the district on the eastern bank of the river Mahananda were under the district of Dinajpur (Old), whereas the thanas on the western boundary viz., Harishchandrapur, Kharba, Ratua and Kaliachak were parts of the Purnea district.

Between 1765 and 1813 the different police stations of the district were under the districts of Dinajpur (old), Rajshahi, Murshidabad and Purnea which were under the British rule. Thus, Malda came under the British administration with the acquisition of the Diwani of the Subah of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa by the East India Company from the Emperor Shah Alam in 1765A.D.

The origin of the district was connected with the various types of evil events and offences (e.g. burglary theft, cattle lifting, rioting, robbery and dacoity etc.) in certain thanas of the districts of Dinajpur, Purnea and Rajshahi. From a long distance of Purnea, it was then very difficult to maintain law and order over the crimes occurred in the following south-eastern thanas and in the vicinity of Malda.

With a view to control over the thanas of (1) Shibganj, (2) Kaliachak, (3) Bholahat and (4) Gurguribah in the Purnea district, the thanas of (5) Malda and (6) Bamangola in the Dinajpur District and the thanas of (7) Rohunpur and (8) Chuppe in the Rajshahi district, on 6th December 1836, George Wynyard Battye was posted as Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Maldah with his headquarters at Englishbazar. Englishbazara was suitable and central site for the newly formed district which was then within the Bhagalpur Division. Subsequently the thanas of Tulshihata and Kharba were also included. A treasury was for the first time established at English Bazar in 1832 and hence the district was usually considered as a separate administrative unit.

In 1875, the boundaries of the district including its nine thanas were notified, and 65 villages from Murshidabad and 237 villages from Dinajpur were transferred to the district of Malda. These thanas were (1) Khurba, (2) Dabeepore, (3) Gazole, (4) Malda, (5) Angrazabad, (6) Kaleachuk, (7) Gomostapore, (8) Sheebgunge and Nawabgunge.

In 1896, Tulshihata outpost of Kharba thana was converted into thana. In 1904, the Manikchak outpost of Ratua Thana and Bamangola outpost were converted into full-fledged functional thanas. The boundaries of the Englishbazar thana were notified in 1914. in 1915, the headquarters of Tulshihata thana was shifted to Harishchandrapur and henceforth the thana was named after Harishchandrapur.

In 1941, a mouza (J.L.N0.31) of Kharba Thana was transferred to Purnea district and a few mouzas of Porsha and Tapan thanas of Dinajpur district (old), West of the river Purnabhaba were also included into Bamangola thana of Malda district.

Just before the partition of India ,the district was under Rajsahi Division with the following fifteen thanas: (1) Harishchandrapur, (2) Kharba, (3) Gajol, (4) Bamangola, (5) Habibpur, (6) Malda, (7) Englishbazar, (8) Ratua, (9) Manikchak, (10) Kaliachak,(11) Shibganj, (12) Bholahat, (13) Gomastapur, (14) Nachole and (15) Nawabganj.

Sir Cyril Radcliffe did not clarify in his statement of Partition Award of August,1947 whether the district would go to Indian Union or to Pakistan. So, the situation of the district was unsettled between 12th August and 15th August,1947. During this short period, district was under a Magistrate of East Pakistan. On the 17th August, 1947, the undivided district of Malda was partitioned into two unequal parts according to the detailed publication of the Radcliffe Award.

On the 17th August, 1947 the present district of Malda was included into West Bengal with the thanas of (1) Harischandrapur, (2) Kharba,(3) Gajol, (4) Bamangola, (5) Habibpur, (6) Malda, (7) Englishbazar, (8) Ratua, (9) Manikchak and (10) Kaliachak.

After partition, the formation of the present Sadar Subdivision of Malda with the above ten thanas and also the formation of the present district of Malda with the same ten thanas were notified on the 17th August, 1947 and the 27th September, 1947 respectively (Vide Government Notification Number 9482/Jur., dated 27 September 1947).

Subsequently, in the early part of 1950 some modification and re-adjustment in connection with the boundary lines between the districts of Malda, Murshidabad and Santal Parganas were made and the J.L.No. 31 under Kharba P.S. was transferred to Purnea District (Bihar). The headquarters of Kharba Police Station was named after Chanchal P.S. when it was transferred from the Kharba in ‘80s and Kaliachak was trifurcated into Kaliachak, (12) Baishnabnagar and (13) Mothabari Police Stations. For effective policing along the sensitive area of West Bengal bordering with the states of Jharkhand and Bihar (14) Bhutni PS on Bhutni island started functioning from 01.03.2016.