The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned to March 10 the hearing on a plea filed by Gitanjali J. Angmo, wife of detained climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his preventive detention under the National Security Act (NSA). The Court said it would examine the video recordings of Wangchuk’s speeches during the Holi vacation and then conclude the hearing and reserve orders.
A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P. B. Varale stated that it wanted to view the pen drives containing Wangchuk’s speeches.
“We wanted to see those pen drives. We have asked the Registrar IT to make arrangements during vacations,” the Bench observed.
The Court clarified that it would complete the hearing on March 10 after examining the material.
The matter was initially adjourned on February 23 due to the unavailability of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. When the case was taken up again, counsel for the Centre sought another adjournment on the same ground.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, opposed the request and submitted that the Centre should be asked to file written submissions instead. The Bench asked the Centre’s counsel to contact the Solicitor General and deferred the matter until later in the day.
When the case was called again, Mehta informed the Court that a CD had been placed on record and that he would make submissions after the Court watched the video material. The Bench then posted the matter for March 10.
The Court had earlier asked the Centre whether there was any possibility of reviewing Wangchuk’s detention in view of his health condition.
Additional Solicitor General K. M. Nataraj had submitted that Wangchuk was responsible for violence in Leh on September 24 last year, in which four persons died and 161 were injured.
The Centre and the Ladakh administration stated that Wangchuk had been detained for instigating people in a border area involving regional sensitivity.
Defending the detention, Solicitor General Mehta had submitted that all procedural safeguards under the NSA were followed. He also alleged that Wangchuk attempted to mobilise youth for protests on the lines of movements in Nepal and Bangladesh and had referred to an “Arab Spring-like” agitation.
On January 29, Wangchuk, lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, denied making any statement advocating the overthrow of the government and asserted his democratic right to criticise and protest.
Sibal submitted that the detaining authority relied on “borrowed material” and selective videos. Angmo has challenged the detention as illegal and arbitrary, alleging violation of fundamental rights.
The plea states that the violence in Leh on September 24 cannot be attributed to Wangchuk and notes that he had condemned the incident on social media, describing it as the “saddest day” of his life and stating that violence would undermine Ladakh’s peaceful movement.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26, two days after protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh turned violent, resulting in four deaths. The government has accused him of inciting the violence.
The National Security Act empowers the Centre and state authorities to order preventive detention to prevent actions prejudicial to the defence of India. The maximum period of detention is 12 months, subject to earlier revocation.
The Court will take up the matter on March 10 after viewing the video material and is expected to reserve its order thereafter.
