NEW DELHI, Dec 7: The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a plea filed by Gitanjali J. Angmo, wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) as “illegal and arbitrary, violating his fundamental rights.”
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N. V. Anjaria is likely to hear the matter. On November 24, the top court had deferred the hearing after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre and the UT of Ladakh, sought time to respond to Angmo’s rejoinder.
The amended plea, filed on October 29, contends that Wangchuk’s detention “is founded upon stale FIRs, vague imputations, and speculative assertions, lacking any live or proximate connection to the purported grounds of detention” and is therefore legally and factually unjustified. It calls the preventive detention “a gross abuse of authority striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process.”
Angmo highlighted Wangchuk’s three decades of contributions to grassroots education, innovation, and environmental conservation in Ladakh and across India, describing it as “wholly preposterous” that he would suddenly be targeted. She added that the violent events in Leh on September 24 cannot be attributed to him, noting that Wangchuk condemned the violence on social media and called it “the saddest day of his life.”
Wangchuk was detained under the NSA on September 26, two days after protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh turned violent, leaving four people dead and 90 injured. The government accused him of inciting the violence.
The NSA allows the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent actions “prejudicial to the defence of India,” with a maximum detention period of 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier. (Agencies)
