SC to Hear Challenge Against Sonam Wangchuk’s Preventive Detention Under NSA
Climate activist’s wife calls arrest illegal bid to silence Ladakh dissent.
The Supreme Court will on Monday take up a habeas corpus petition filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of renowned climate activist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his continued detention under the stringent National Security Act as unconstitutional, arbitrary and a blatant violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.
Wangchuk was slapped with the NSA on September 26 — just two days after violent protests in Leh over statehood and Sixth Schedule demands turned deadly, claiming four lives and injuring 90 others — despite the activist publicly condemning the violence and repeatedly advocating non-violent protest. The amended plea contends that the detention order relies on stale FIRs, vague allegations and speculative assertions that bear no proximate link to any alleged threat to public order.
The petition highlights a disturbing pattern of state reprisal in the months preceding Wangchuk’s arrest: cancellation of land leases for his Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), FCRA registration revocation, a CBI probe, and Income Tax summons — all occurring within weeks of crucial dialogue rounds between Ladakh’s Apex Body, Kargil Democratic Alliance and the Ministry of Home Affairs, suggesting a calculated effort to muzzle legitimate democratic dissent ahead of elections.
Also Read: MK Stalin Says Supreme Court's Opinion Won't Override April Ruling on Tamil Nadu Governor's Powers
Further exposing procedural illegality, the plea notes that complete grounds of detention were furnished to Wangchuk only after an egregious 28-day delay, far exceeding the statutory maximum of five days (or ten days in exceptional circumstances) mandated under Section 8 of the NSA, thereby rendering the entire preventive detention process vitiated by malice in law and fact.
With the matter listed before Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria, the outcome of Monday’s hearing could set a significant precedent on the misuse of preventive detention laws against civil society voices, especially in strategically sensitive regions like Ladakh where demands for constitutional safeguards have gained momentum following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
Also Read: Tirumala Laddu Scam: SIT Records Statement of YV Subba Reddy for Eight Hours
