Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of prominent Ladakh climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to invalidate her husband's detention under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, labelling the order "grossly illegal and arbitrary". In an amended petition, Angmo argued that the September 2025 detention relies on "stale, irrelevant, and extraneous" FIRs lacking any proximate nexus to genuine public order threats. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing her, highlighted additional grounds challenging the order's validity during proceedings before Justices JK Maheshwari and Arup Kumar Goswami.

The petition meticulously dissects the five FIRs cited by authorities: three from 2024, predating the detention by over a year with no "live or rational" link, and four—mostly against "unknown persons"—not even naming Wangchuk. "There is no clear, proximate, or intelligible connection between these FIRs and the preventive detention," it asserts, accusing the administration of misusing NSA—a draconian law typically reserved for imminent threats—to silence peaceful protests demanding Sixth Schedule protections for Ladakh's fragile ecology and tribal rights.

Wangchuk's arrest on September 4 stemmed from a 21-day hunger strike protesting the dilution of Ladakh's autonomy post its 2019 bifurcation from Jammu & Kashmir. The Padma Shri awardee, famed for inspiring the 2013 film 3 Idiots, has championed sustainable development in the high-altitude region, rallying locals against unchecked mining and demographic shifts. Over 300 supporters, including women and youth, faced parallel detentions, sparking nationwide outrage and international attention to Ladakh's unfulfilled Article 371 promises.

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Angmo seeks immediate quashing of the detention, Wangchuk's release, and safeguards against further harassment. The case underscores escalating tensions in Ladakh, where activists accuse the Union Territory administration of suppressing dissent amid stalled constitutional safeguards. With hearings ongoing, the verdict could set precedents on the NSA's application to environmental advocacy, testing judicial scrutiny of preventive detention laws.

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