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The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing for October 15 of a plea of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali Angmo, against his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) and seeking his release.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria adjourned the case on the request of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for the petitioner. "Due to the paucity of time, the matter will be taken up tomorrow on the request of the petitioner's counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal," said the bench. Earlier, the bench had sought a response from the Centre, Union Territory of Ladakh, and Superintendent of Police Jodhpur Central jail on the plea of Wangchuk's wife. Sibal had informed the apex court that the grounds of detention had not been supplied to the family and should be served on her. Sibal had said that the plea challenges the detention as illegal under Article 22, as no grounds for arrest have been supplied. He had said that without the grounds of detention, the detention order cannot be challenged. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the government, had said the 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. 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 people were killed and 80 others were injured. The protesters have been demanding statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The habeas corpus plea 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. According to the petition, the activist resorted only to peaceful Gandhian protest within Ladakh, an exercise of his constitutional right to speech and assembly. The detention amounts to a 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," stated the plea. Angmo also challenged the transfer of Wangchuk to the Central Jail in Jodhpur, over a thousand kilometres from Ladakh, the site of protests. (ANI)
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