New Delhi, October 3 – The battle for Ladakh’s climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has reached the country’s top court, with his wife Gitanjali J. Angmo moving the Supreme Court on Thursday, challenging his arrest under the National Security Act (NSA).
Wangchuk, who was detained after violent protests in Leh left four dead last week, has been shifted to Jodhpur Central Jail in Rajasthan.
The Ladakh administration accuses him of inciting unrest during the September 24 demonstrations for statehood and constitutional safeguards.
In her habeas corpus petition filed under Article 32, Gitanjali argued that her husband’s arrest was “illegal” and that the stringent NSA had been wrongly invoked.
She told the court that neither she nor the family had been provided valid grounds for his detention, and she had been denied contact with him.
“I don’t want to politicise this case. I will fight it purely on merit and on constitutional rights,” she said in a statement, adding that her own movements in Leh were being closely monitored.
Meanwhile, the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance have rejected the administration’s magisterial probe into the violence, demanding instead a judicial inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge.
The case is expected to be heard after the Supreme Court reopens on October 6, following its Dussehra vacation.
Meanwhile, Wangchuk lawyer and some family members are being allowed to meet him, may be tomorrow.
Until then, Wangchuk remains behind bars, while Ladakh continues to simmer with tension over the activist’s arrest.
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