The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to February 26 the hearing on a habeas corpus plea challenging the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act (NSA). The matter was deferred by a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P. B. Varale due to the unavailability of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The petition has been filed by Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J. Angmo, who has questioned the legality of his preventive detention and termed it an arbitrary exercise violative of his fundamental rights.
During earlier hearings, the bench had asked the Union government whether it could reconsider Wangchuk’s detention in view of his health condition.
The Centre, represented by the law officers, opposed the plea and justified the detention. Additional Solicitor General K. M. Nataraj submitted that Wangchuk was responsible for instigating violence in Leh on September 24 last year, in which four persons died and 161 were injured.
According to the Union and the Ladakh administration, the detention was ordered on the ground that Wangchuk allegedly provoked people in a sensitive border region and attempted to mobilise youth for protests.
The Centre has maintained that all procedural safeguards under the NSA were followed while passing the detention order. It has also alleged that Wangchuk encouraged protests on the lines of movements seen in Nepal and Bangladesh and referred to an “Arab Spring”-type agitation.
The NSA permits preventive detention to prevent individuals from acting in a manner prejudicial to the defence of India, with a maximum detention period of 12 months, subject to earlier revocation.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, argued that the detention was based on “borrowed material” and selective video clips which misled the detaining authority.
The plea contends that Wangchuk, who has worked for over three decades in the fields of education, innovation and environmental protection, has been wrongly linked to the violence. It states that he had in fact condemned the September 24 incidents through social media and emphasised peaceful protest.
Wangchuk, currently lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, has also denied allegations that he called for any attempt to overthrow the government, asserting his democratic right to criticise and protest.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26 last year, two days after violent protests in Ladakh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status resulted in fatalities and injuries. The administration attributed the unrest to his alleged instigation, a claim disputed by the petitioner.
The Supreme Court will now take up the matter for further hearing on February 26.
