Sonam Wangchuk’s wife alleges ‘close surveillance’ by Rajasthan Police, IB

Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo has alleged that Rajasthan Police and Intelligence Bureau kept her under close surveillance during her visits to Jodhpur Jail to meet her husband who has been under preventive detention under the National Security Act, 1980, since September 26.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, she alleged that she has been under constant surveillance in Delhi since late September and was taken into a police vehicle immediately after reaching Jodhpur Airport during October 7 and October 11 visits to meet her husband.

“As soon as I step out of my accommodation in Delhi after September 30, a car and a man on a bike trail me wherever I go across Delhi,” she said.

“I was not allowed to go anywhere else or meet anyone in Jodhpur and was taken to the railway station even when I had a few hours to spare before boarding the train. The officers boarded the train with me and alighted at Merta Road Junction, the next stop after two hours of journey,” the affidavit stated.

“As a free citizen, I am entitled to go to Jodhpur when I like, how I like, and meet my husband without restrictions of my movements. No other person should have been privy to my conversations with Sonam Wangchuk. These actions are violative of my rights under Article 19 (right to freedom of speech and expression) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution,” she submitted.

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 people dead and nearly 100 injured.

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.

A Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria had on October 15 deferred hearing on Angmo’s petition seeking her husband’s immediate release from detention under the NSA to October 29 after she sought time to amend her petition to add certain additional grounds and reliefs.