SC adjourns Wangchuk’s petition to December 4

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by the wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, Gitanjali J Angmo, to December 8. Angmo has termed his detention under the National Security Act as “illegal, and an arbitrary exercise violating his fundamental rights”.

A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria deferred the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, sought time to reply to the rejoinder filed by Wangchuk’s wife.

On October 29, the court had sought responses from the Centre and the Ladakh administration on the amended plea. According to the petition, “the detention order is founded upon stale FIRs, vague imputations, and speculative assertions, lacks any live or proximate connection to the purported grounds of detention and is thus devoid of any legal or factual justification.”

“Such arbitrary exercise of preventive powers amounts to a gross abuse of authority, striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process,” it claimed.

The plea argued it was “wholly preposterous” that Wangchuk, recognised nationally and internationally for his contribution to education, innovation and environmental conservation, would suddenly be targeted. It said the violence in Leh on September 24 could not be attributed to him and noted that he had publicly condemned it, calling the day “the saddest day of his life”.

Wangchuk was detained under the NSA on September 26, two days after violent protests in Leh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status left four dead and 90 injured. Authorities have accused him of inciting violence. The NSA allows preventive detention for up to 12 months.