The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the petition of Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk. Under this petition, the detention of her husband under the National Security Act (NSUKA) has been described as illegal and an arbitrary action that violates fundamental rights. This case will probably be heard by the bench of Justice Arvind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria.
The court had postponed the hearing to November 24.
The bench had postponed the hearing of the case on November 24 when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government and the Union Territory of Ladakh, sought time to submit his rejoinder on the reply of Wangchuk’s wife. On October 29, the apex court had sought response from the Center and Ladakh administration on the amended petition of Wangchuk’s wife.
What about Gitanjali’s petition?
According to the application, ‘The detention order is based on an old FIR, vague allegations and conjectures, and has no direct or close connection with the alleged grounds of detention. Therefore, there is no legal or factual justification for this.
‘Arbitrary use of powers and abuse of rights’
The application states, ‘Such arbitrary use of preventive powers is a gross abuse of power, which hurts the foundation of constitutional freedom and due process. Thus the order of detention deserves to be canceled by this court.
He said that Wangchuk’s actions or statements cannot be held responsible in any way for the unfortunate incidents of violence that took place in Leh on September 24. Wangchuk was detained under Rasuka on 26 September.
There was violent protest in Ladakh
This happened when there were violent protests demanding statehood and inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule, in which four people died and 90 were injured. The government had accused him of inciting violence.