Ladakh violence: Wangchuk indulged in ‘activities prejudicial to security of state’, Leh DM to SC

The Ladakh Administration on Tuesday defended climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s detention under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, before the Supreme Court, saying he “had been indulging in activities prejudicial to the security of the State”.

Responding to Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo’s petition seeking his immediate release from detention, Leh Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Romil Singh Donk – who passed the September 26 detention order under the NSA – denied as “baseless” her allegation that her husband had been detained illegally and was being ill-treated during the detention.

The affidavit asserted that Wangchuk had been “lawfully detained under a lawful authority” after considering relevant material under Section 3(2) of the NSA.

“It is submitted that the above stated order of detention came to be passed by me after duly considering the material placed before me and, as mandated under the law, and after arriving at a subjective satisfaction on the circumstances that prevailed within the local limits of the jurisdiction where Sonam Wangchuk had been indulging in activities prejudicial to the security of the State, public order and services essential to the community as mentioned in the grounds of detention,” the affidavit read.

“I was satisfied and continue to be satisfied with the detention of the detenue,” Donk asserted.

A Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria – which had on October 6 issued notices to the Centre, Ladakh administration and others on Angmo’s petition seeking Wangchuk’s immediate release – on Tuesday deferred the hearing to October 15.

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.

Terming the allegation of not being informed of the detention order as “completely false and misleading”, the affidavit said that the detenue was categorically informed about his arrest under the NSA and his transfer to Central Jail, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and that his wife was also immediately informed about it.

The Leh District Magistrate said Wangchuk was communicated the grounds of his detention on September 29 and his signature was taken on the receiving copy.

The affidavit stated that Wangchuk has been medically examined five times between September 26 and October 9, and “he was certified to be medically and physically fit” and that he has told the authorities that “he is not on any medication.”

It said notwithstanding the fact that nearly a fortnight has elapsed since he was detained, “no representation has been made by Sonam Wangchuk to the detaining authority against his detention.”

In a separate affidavit, Jodhpur Central Jail Superintendent Pradeep Lakhawat told the top court that Wangchuk was not in solitary confinement and that he has been kept in a 20 feet x 20 feet standard barrack. He was medically examined on October 12 as well and was found to be fit, he said.

His brother Tsetan Dorje and lawyer Mustaf Haji were allowed to meet him on October 4 for one hour, Lakhawat said, adding his wife (petitioner) and another counsel Sarvam Ritam Khare met him on October 7. At Wangchuk’s request, he was given a laptop, the affidavit stated.

Terming the detention “illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional”, Angmo had contended that 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.

Angmo also questioned the Ladakh administration’s decision to invoke the NSA against Wangchuk. She alleged that she was not given a copy of the detention order in violation of rules, and that she had had no contact so far with her husband. The administration, however, rejected the allegations of a “witch-hunt” or a “smokescreen” operation against Wangchuk.

In her habeas corpus petition, Angmo sought a direction to the administration to “produce Wangchuk before the top court forthwith”. She demanded immediate access to the detainee and urged the top court to quash the preventive detention order.

Alleging that no grounds of detention had been furnished till date, either to Wangchuk or to his family, his wife contended that she was kept under virtual house arrest in Leh, while students and staff of Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), founded by Wangchuk, were facing “harassment, intimidation and intrusive investigations”.

“The arbitrary transfer of Wangchuk to Jodhpur, the harassment of students and staff of the HIAL, virtual house arrest of the petitioner herself and the false propaganda linking Wangchuk to foreign entities clearly demonstrate mala fide state action intended to suppress democratic dissent and peaceful environmental activism,” she submitted.