Jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, told the Supreme Court on Monday that the detaining authority had not not applied his mind and relied on irrelevant material while detaining her husband.
She told the court that four videos relied upon by the detaining authority have not been furnished to Wangchuk, which is a violation of his right to effective representation.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing in the court for Angmo, told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B Varale that not supplying the videos violated Wangchuk's right to effective representation before the Advisory Board as well as the government.
Sibal further argued that the district magistrate did not apply his mind while recommending Wangchuk's detention and only "copy-pasted" the recommendations made by the senior superintendent of police (SSP), Ladakh.
"Grounds of detention are simply a copy-paste of the recommendation. The material relied upon should have a proximate link to the detention order. Irrelevant things were relied upon for detention," Sibal said.
So your contention is that there is no application of mind by the detaining authority?" the court asked.
"Yes" replied Sibal.
He pointed out that several documents referred to incidents from March 2024 onwards, while the detention order was passed in September 2025. According to him, the alleged grounds of detention were said to arise from events of September 10, 11 and 24, 2025, but material relating to those dates had not been supplied.
Referring to videos uploaded on Wangchuk’s YouTube channel, Sibal argued that the authorities relied on content either subsequent to the alleged incident or content in which Wangchuk did not even appear. He contended that the law required a proximate link between the material relied upon and the detention order, which was completely absent.
“If irrelevant material is relied upon, the detention is bad in law,” Sibal said.
The hearing in the matter remained inconclusive and will continue on January 13.
Angmo had earlier submitted that the tenor of a speech delivered by her husband at Leh was not to propagate violence, but to quell it, and that facts are being manipulated to portray him as a criminal.
Angmo had also told the court that Wangchuk was not provided with the "complete grounds" of his detention and not given a proper opportunity to make a representation to the authority concerned against the action.
Wangchuk was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on September 26, 2025, two days after violent protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory.
The government has accused Wangchuk of inciting the violence.
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.
The Leh district magistrate (DM) had earlier told the apex court that Wangchuk indulged in activities prejudicial to the security of the State, maintenance of public order and essential services, which led to his detention under the NSA.
In an affidavit filed before the court, the DM had denied that Wangchuk was detained illegally or was being treated improperly under detention, and submitted that the grounds of his detention were communicated to him.
The Jodhpur Central Jail Superintendent stated in a separate affidavit that Wangchuk's wife, brother and lawyers were allowed to meet him in jail.
Angmo, in her plea, has said the unfortunate events of violence in Leh on September 24 last year cannot be attributed to Wangchuk's actions or statements in any manner.
Wangchuk himself condemned the violence through his social media handles and categorically stated that it would lead to the failure of Ladakh's "tapasya" and peaceful pursuit of five years, Angmo said, adding that it was the saddest day of his life.