SC to Hear Plea Against Wangchuk Detention Under NSA

Supreme Court (PTI)

According to the apex court’s cause list for October 6, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday October 6, 2025 a plea filed by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J. Angmo, challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) and seeking his immediate release.

The petition is listed before a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria.

Wangchuk was detained under the stringent NSA on September 26, two days after protests in Ladakh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status left four people dead and 90 injured. He is currently lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, Rajasthan.

In her plea, Angmo questioned the decision to invoke the NSA, which permits detention without trial for up to 12 months. She filed a habeas corpus petition seeking urgent hearing and a direction to the Ladakh administration to “produce Sonam Wangchuk before this court forthwith.”

The petition also sought immediate access to the detenue, quashing of the preventive detention order, and directions to the authorities, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ladakh administration, the deputy commissioner of Leh, and the Jodhpur jail superintendent, to allow both telephonic and in-person contact with Wangchuk.

Angmo alleged that her husband’s detention was “illegal, arbitrary, and unconstitutional,” violating his fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21, and 22 of the Constitution.

“Wangchuk, an internationally acclaimed innovator, environmentalist, and social reformer, has always followed Gandhian and peaceful methods to highlight the ecological and democratic concerns of Ladakh,” the plea stated.

According to the petition, Wangchuk was detained by the deputy commissioner of Leh under Section 3(2) of the NSA while he was recovering from a prolonged fast over Ladakh’s demand for constitutional safeguards. He was shifted to Jodhpur Central Jail without being provided medicines, personal belongings, or access to his family and counsel.

“No grounds of detention have been furnished to Wangchuk or his family till date,” the plea added.

(Source-PTI)