Supreme Court to Hear Plea Challenging Sonam Wangchuk’s Detention Under NSA
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on October 6 a plea filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) and seeking his immediate release.
According to the court’s cause list, the matter will be heard by a bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26 under the NSA, two days after protests in Ladakh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status left four people dead and 90 injured. He is currently lodged in Jodhpur jail, Rajasthan.
In her petition, filed through senior lawyer Vivek Tankha and lawyer Sarvam Ritam Khare, Angmo challenged the invocation of the NSA, which allows detention without trial for up to 12 months. She filed a habeas corpus plea seeking urgent hearing, production of Wangchuk before the court, immediate access to him, and quashing of the preventive detention order.
The petition named the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ladakh UT administration, the deputy commissioner of Leh, and the Jodhpur jail superintendent as respondents. It also requested that Angmo be allowed both telephonic and in-person access to her husband. The plea alleged that Wangchuk’s detention is “illegal, arbitrary, and unconstitutional,” violating Articles 14, 19, 21, and 22 of the Constitution.
It highlighted Wangchuk’s international recognition as an innovator, environmentalist, and social reformer who has consistently used Gandhian and peaceful methods to raise ecological and democratic concerns in Ladakh. The petition noted that Wangchuk was detained under Section 3(2) of the NSA while recovering from a prolonged fast advocating for constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule.
According to the plea, Wangchuk was transferred to Jodhpur without his medicines, personal belongings, or access to family and legal counsel, and no grounds for his detention have been communicated. Angmo also alleged she has been placed under virtual house arrest in Leh, while students and staff of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), founded by Wangchuk, face harassment and intrusive investigations.
The petition claimed the detention and related actions constitute “mala fide state action intended to suppress democratic dissent and peaceful environmental activism” and highlighted the mental anguish inflicted on the people of Ladakh. It referenced a reported suicide by a member of the Ladakh Buddhist Association, allegedly linked to distress over Wangchuk’s detention.
The plea sought directions to ensure Wangchuk receives his medicines, clothing, food, and other necessities, provide medical reports, furnish the detention order with grounds, and halt harassment of HIAL students and staff.
