SC to hear on Monday plea seeking activist Sonam Wangchuk’s release from NSA detention

The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a petition, filed by Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, which termed the climate activist’s detention under the stringent National Security Act, 1980, as illegal and an arbitrary exercise violating his fundamental rights.

The top court had on October 29 asked the Centre and the Ladakh Administration to respond to an amended petition of Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo.

The matter is listed on November 24 for hearing before a Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria.

The activist was detained on September 26 under Section 3(2) of the NSA, two days after protests demanding Ladakh’s statehood and the Sixth Schedule status turned violent, leaving four persons dead and nearly 100 injured. He is currently lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail.

Angmo has challenged Wangchuk’s detention, terming it “illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional”, saying the detention order violated her husband’s fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (right to various freedoms), 21 (right to life and liberty) and 22 (Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases) of the Constitution.