Ladakh protests: SC questions Centre over transcripts of videos in Wangchuk detention case
Questioning the nexus between Wangchuk’s speeches and violence that broke out in Ladakh in September last year, the Supreme Court had on February 11 told the Centre that it was reading too much into his speeches
The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre over the transcripts of videos submitted by it against activist Sonam Wangchuk—detained under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, since September 26, 2025, following violent protests in Leh – saying translations should be precise in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
”Mr Solicitor, we want an actual transcript of the speech. What he relied upon and what you say are different. We will decide. There should be an actual transcript of what he says. You may have your reasons. At least, whatever he stated, the true translation should be there… Your translation goes on for 7 to 8 minutes, but the speech is for 3 minutes. We are in the era of Artificial Intelligence; precision is at least 98 per cent for translation,” a Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice PB Varale told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj.
The Bench said it wanted actual transcripts of Wangchuk’s statements from the government after senior advocate Kapil Sibal submitted that some of the words attributed to the activist were never said by him.
“Wangchuk continued his strike… and also continued to provoke youth by taking reference of Nepal… Where is this line coming from? This is a very unique detention order — you rely on something that does not exist and then you say it is based on subjective satisfaction,” senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who represented Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo, said, questioning the translation.
Nataraj told the court that there is a department for transcripts and said, “We are not experts in it.”
The Bench will resume the hearing on Thursday.
This was the second time that the Bench questioned the Centre over Wangchuk’s speech. Questioning the nexus between Wangchuk’s speeches and violence that broke out in Ladakh in September last year, the Supreme Court had on February 11 told the Centre that it was reading too much into his speeches.
“You are reading too much into it,” the Bench had told Natraj, indicating that the Centre’s interpretation of Wangchuk’s speech went beyond the plain meaning of what he spoke.
The activist was detained on September 26, 2025 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.
The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner “prejudicial to the defence of India”. The maximum detention period is 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier.
Wangchuk had on January 29 denied exhorting his supporters to overthrow the government like the Arab Spring and asserted his democratic right to criticise and protest.
The Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh Administration had sought to justify Wangchuk’s detention under the NSA, saying he was detained for instigating people in a sensitive border area.
