The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, the Ladakh administration, and the Jodhpur jail authorities on a plea filed by Gitanjali Angmo, wife of Ladakhi education reformer and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his preventive detention under the National Security Act (NSA).
The bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria heard senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, who urged the court to direct authorities to furnish the grounds of detention to the detainee’s family.
“Can the grounds of detention be supplied to us as well?” Sibal asked, stressing that the family had not been given access to the detention order or its reasoning, despite repeated requests.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, informed the court that the lawyer and brother of the detainee had already met Wangchuk in jail.
Sibal, however, countered, “We are only allowed to speak on the intercom. Grounds have to be supplied as per the judgments of this court.”
Agreeing with the contention, the bench directed the authorities to supply the grounds of detention to Wangchuk. “Yes, then supply,” the bench observed.
Sibal insisted that the family, too, must be furnished with the grounds, saying, “As per law, the grounds of detention have to be supplied. Please see the section, let it be served to the wife.”
At this point, Justice Kumar asked the Solicitor General, “Why withhold it from his wife?”
Mehta responded that while the law required service on the detainee, the authorities had already complied with that. “We will examine it,” he said, adding, “There are no issues as such, but we don’t want them to create a new ground to challenge the detention order.”
To this, Justice Kumar remarked, “Mr SG, please don’t be skeptical.” The bench then recorded, “The Solicitor General to examine the feasibility of serving the detention order on the wife of Mr Wangchuk. It has already been supplied to the detainee.”
Sibal pressed further, saying, “How do I challenge the order without knowing the grounds?”
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Justice Kumar noted, “Mr Sibal submits that non-supply of grounds of detention to his wife will not be a ground to challenge the detention order. We have recorded it.”
Sibal, however, objected: “Please do not record it unless we are supplied with it immediately.”
The Solicitor General dismissed reports suggesting Wangchuk was being denied medical care. “He has made a statement before the medical officer that he is not on any medication. This is all hype, just to portray in the media that he is deprived of medicines and access to his wife, just to create an emotive atmosphere,” Mehta submitted.
Responding to this, the court observed: “It is stated that the detainee shall be given medical attention as may be required and the same shall be allowed as per extant prison rules.”
During the hearing, Justice Kumar inquired when the last request for a meeting with Wangchuk was made. Sibal replied, “Last Friday she did.” The bench then said, “Just go by prison rules.”
The case will be heard next week on October 14.
The petition by Angmo challenges the invocation of the NSA, arguing that Wangchuk’s detention was illegal, arbitrary, and intended to silence peaceful dissent in Ladakh. It states that neither Wangchuk nor his family had been given the detention order or grounds, violating constitutional safeguards under Article 22 and provisions of the NSA.
The plea highlights that Wangchuk’s activism has always been non-violent, focused on sustainable development and constitutional protection for Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule.
The 57-year-old reformer, currently lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, was detained late last month amid ongoing protests demanding Ladakh’s statehood and protection of its fragile ecology. |
