The Supreme Court is slated to hear on October 6 a plea filed by Sonam Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo challenging the climate activist’s detention under the National Security Act, and seeking his immediate release.
According to the Apex Court’s cause list for October 6, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria.Wangchuk was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on September 26, two days after protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory.Wangchuk is lodged in Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.The plea filed through advocate Sarvam Ritam Khare was filed on October 2.
In her plea filed through senior lawyer Vivek Tankha and lawyer Sarvam Ritam Khare, Angmo has also questioned the decision to invoke the NSA against Wangchuk, which allows detention without a trial for up to 12 months.Filing the habeas corpus (bring the person) writ, the spouse of the detained activist sought urgent listing of the plea and a direction to the Ladakh administration to “produce Sonam Wangchuk before this court forthwith”.
It also sought immediate access to the detenue, and quashing of the preventive detention order.The plea, which named the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ladakh UT administration, deputy commissioner of Leh, and the Jodhpur jail superintendent as parties, also sought a direction to them to “allow immediate access of the petitioner to her husband, both telephonic and in person”.The plea alleged that Wangchuk’s detention was “illegal, arbitrary, and unconstitutional”, violating the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution.
Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of activist, environmentalist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk, has approached the Supreme Court challenging his detention under the National Security Act.Wangchuk was arrested from Ladakh on September 26 and is currently under detention in a jail in Jodhpur.The arrest was made pursuant to the protests and violence that broke out in Ladakh over demands of statehood for the Union Territory.
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