Wangchuk’s Wife Moves SC, Calls NSA Arrest ‘Illegal’

The wife of imprisoned climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, Gitanjali J. Angmo, filed a plea with the Supreme Court on Monday, calling his arrest under the National Security Act "illegal, and an arbitrary exercise violating his fundamental rights."

The case will likely be heard by a bench consisting of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria.

After Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre and the UT of Ladakh, requested time to reply to Angmo's rebuttal, the top court postponed the case on November 24.

On October 29, the top court asked the Ladakh government and the Centre to respond to Angmo's modified plea.

According to the amended plea, “The detention order is founded upon stale FIRs, vague imputations, and speculative assertions, lacks any live or proximate connection to the purported grounds of detention and is thus devoid of any legal or factual justification...

“Such arbitrary exercise of preventive powers amounts to a gross abuse of authority, striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process, rendering the detention order liable to be vitiated by this court.” The plea said it is wholly preposterous that after more than three decades of being recognised at the state, national, and international levels for his contributions to grassroots education, innovation, and environmental conservation in Ladakh and across India, “Wangchuk would suddenly be targeted”.

According to Angmo, Wangchuk's words and deeds had nothing to do with the terrible violence that occurred in Leh on September 24.

She added, Wangchuk himself denounced the violence on social media and declared unequivocally that it would fail Ladakh's "tapasya" and peaceful pursuit of five years. He added that "it was the saddest day of his life."

Two days after violent protests calling for Ladakh's statehood and Sixth Schedule status resulted in four fatalities and ninety injuries in the Union territory, Wangchuk was arrested on September 26 under the strict National Security Act (NSA). He was charged by the authorities with inciting the violence.

The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner "prejudicial to the defence of India". The maximum detention period is 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier.