The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and Union Territory of Ladakh on a plea filed by Sonam Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali J Angmo challenging the climate activist's detention under the National Security Act, and seeking his immediate release.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Gitanjali J. Angmo, said that the plea is assailing the detention.
"We are against the detention," he submitted.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central government, said that the grounds of detention have been supplied to Wangchuk, reported Bar and Bench.
"Grounds for detention were supplied," he said.
"Issue notice," the bench directed.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria refused to pass any order on providing grounds of detention to Wangchuk's wife and posted the matter for hearing on October 14.
Climate activist Wangchuk’s wife Angmo has filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging his detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) as “illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary” and seeking his immediate release.
The plea was filed on Thursday (October 2) evening in the form of a habeas corpus petition under Article 32, which empowers citizens to seek a court direction to the authorities to produce a person physically before it as their whereabouts are not known.
In the plea filed through lawyers Vivek Tankha and Sarvam Ritam Khare, Gitanjali has questioned the decision to invoke the NSA against Wangchuk.
Wangchuk was arrested and detained under the NSA on September 26, two days after protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory.
Wangchuk is lodged in Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.
The government has blamed Wangchuk and some Pakistani elements for fomenting trouble. However, Wangchuk, currently lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, and his supporters have denied the allegations and blamed the government for its crackdown and the death of four people.
Earlier, civil liberty organisations such as the Assam Nagarik Samaj had sought Wangchuk’s release, asserting that he was a “national treasure, leading a peaceful movement to secure autonomy, cultural preservation, and environmental protection for Ladakh”.
Gitanjali had also written to President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, seeking her husband’s release as he had adopted a “Gandhian” form of protest to advocate for climate change action and the development of Ladakh’s backward tribal regions.
