Contesting arrest of Sonam Wnagchuk under NSA as having no merit, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali Angmo has said his arrest reflects the state of democracy in the country where power is used to "illegally detain" people. She also and contended that fresh dates are repeatedly sought by the government in court as the latter is trying to gain time. She stressed that they are not trying to make the case political but rued the "delays".
In an interview with a news agency, Angmo alleged that Wangchuk should already be out of prison considering "procedural lapses" by authorities, and said it is an "open and shut case".Angmo said she was, however, "a bit disappointed" the detention has not faced stronger pushback. "We cannot afford to be silent," she said, calling for a collective and louder opposition to his arrest.
"...it's not just about Sonam Wangchuk as an individual, but about the state of democracy in this country, about the use of power for illegal detention of people who have been working for this country. If it can happen to Sonam, it can happen to anybody else," she said.
Wangchuk, a Magsaysay Award-winning climate activist and educator, 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, and was taken to Jodhpur jail.
The climate activist is accused of making "provocative statements" that led to the violence.Angmo, who has co-founded the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, with Wangchuk, has filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention and seeking his immediate release."It has been quite an uphill task, getting the detention order and meeting Sonam needed a habeas corpus to be filed in the Supreme Court and even after that was filed, to get his handwritten notes was a challenge," Angmo said.
The handwritten notes prepared by Wangchuk regarding his detention are part of legal documentation submitted to the Supreme Court.The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to January 29 the hearing of a plea filed by Angmo against Wangchuk's detention under the NSA.Angmo said that as per the NSA, authorities should provide all documents, including the ones that establish the grounds of detention, to the detainee within "five or maximum 10 days".
"In a way, it is an open and shut case just on this alone because it violates Section 8 of the National Security Act. Corollary to this is that because he did not get these videos, he was denied a chance to make an effective representation -- Section 11 of the NSA -- in front of the advisory board," she said. Angmo said the grounds of detention used against Wangchuk "are stale" and some of them "rely on videos that are one and a half years old or one year old".
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