Leh violence: Supreme Court issues notice to Centre, Ladakh UT over Sonam Wangchuk's detention

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, Union Territory of Ladakh, Superintendent of Jodhpur Central jail on a plea of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo against his detention under the National Security Act (NSA).

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria sought a response the governments authorities and fixed the matter for hearing on October 14.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Wangchuk’s wife told the bench that the grounds of detention have not been supplied to the family and it should be served on her.

Sibal said that the plea is challenging the detention as illegal under Article 22 of the Constitution, as no grounds of arrest have been supplied. He said that without the grounds, the detention order cannot be challenged.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the government, said ground of detention already served to detenue (Wangchuk) and there is no legal requirement for the grounds of detention to be communicated to the wife.

He, however, agreed to consider the feasibility to serve the copy of grounds to his wife.

During the hearing, Sibal also asked for the interim relief seeking medical support for Wangchuk. To this, Mehta said that when the activist was produced for medical examination, he stated that he was not on any medication.

However, the Solicitor General said that if any medical supplies were needed, they would be given.

Sibal further asked the bench to allow Wangchuk’s wife to meet her husband.

Mehta said that Angmo had submitted a request to meet him, and it was being considered.

He also contended that Angmo was trying to create a "hype and an emotive issue" that Wangchuk was denied medical relief and he was denied meetings with her.

"This is all just to portray in media and in that region that he is deprived of medicines and access to wife. Just to create an emotive atmosphere. That's all," Mehta claimed.

Along with Sibal, senior advocate Vivek Tankha also appeared for Angmo. Wangchuk’s wife was also present in the court during the hearing.

Wangchuk was detained on September 26 and shifted to Jodhpur central jail in Rajasthan for allegedly inciting a violent protest in Ladakh. He was booked under the NSA after the violence in Leh, in which four persons were killed and 80 others injured.

The protesters have been demanding statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

A habeas corpus plea filed in the top court stated that Wangchuk’s detention was not genuinely linked to national security or public order but intended to silence a respected environmentalist and social reformer for espousing democratic and ecological causes.

The plea filed by Wangchuk's wife claimed that the activist resorted only to peaceful Gandhian protest within Ladakh, in an exercise of his constitutional right to speech and assembly. The detention amounted to violation of free speech under Article 19, it stated.

It said the charges were “baseless and floated with the sole object of defaming, maligning and discrediting his peaceful Gandhian movement” aimed at protecting the ecology of Ladakh.

The plea said that a “systematic campaign” had been “unleashed against” Wangchuk, alleging “links with Pakistan and China.”

“In particular, a blasphemous narrative suggesting links with Pakistan and China is being intentionally floated in certain quarters with the sole object of defaming, maligning and discrediting a peaceful Gandhian movement for the protection of Ladakh, its fragile ecology, its mountains, glaciers, and the livelihood of its people,” the plea contended.

Angmo also challenged the transfer of Wangchuk to the Central Jail in Jodhpur over a thousand kilometres from Ladakh, the site of protests.