NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the NDA-led central government and the Ladakh Union Territory (UT) on a plea challenging Sonam Wangchuk’s detention after a violent protest in Ladakh in which four people were killed.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, challenging the climate activist’s detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), and seeking his immediate release, reported news agency PTI.
According to Bar and Bench, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the government, submitted that the “law has been followed and grounds of detention supplied to Wangchuk”.
However, a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria refused to pass any order on providing grounds of detention to Wangchuk’s wife and posted the matter for hearing on October 14.
Wangchuk, a former educationist, was detained by police on September 26, two days after violent protests erupted in Ladakh’s capital Leh over demands for statehood and inclusion under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution of India. He was transferred to a jail in faraway Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and booked under the NSA.
Authorities allege that Wangchuk “incited” the violence. At the time, he had been leading a hunger strike, which he later called off, advocating for statehood for Ladakh, a Union territory created in August 2019, and its inclusion in the 6th Schedule. On that day, a faction of mostly young protesters broke away from the peaceful agitation and engaged in clashes with security forces.
After his arrest, Gitanjali Angmo moved the Supreme Court, seeking his release.
Earlier, she reached out to President Droupadi Murmu to seek her intervention for the release of the climate activist.
In a three-page letter addressed to President Murmu, Angmo alleged a “witch-hunt” against her husband for espousing the cause of the people over the past four years and said she is completely unaware of her husband’s condition.
Gitanjali, who is also the CEO of Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL), also slammed the Centre and alleged police torture against the people of Ladakh after the September 24 violence in the Union Territory.
Comparing the current situation in Ladakh to that during British India, she said that the Union Home Ministry is “misusing” the Ladakh Police.
“Is India really free? In 1857, 24,000 Britishers used 135,000 Indian sepoys to oppress 300 million Indians under orders from the Queen. Today, a dozen administrators are misusing 2400 Ladakhi police to oppress and torture 3 lakh Ladakhis under the orders of the MHA,” Gitanjali wrote on X.
