SC Defers Hearing On Plea Challenging Sonam Wangchuk's Detention, Court to Watch Videos of His Speeches

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (February 26) said that during the Holi vacation it will watch the videos of activist Sonam Wangchuk’s speeches submitted to the court and deferred the hearing of the case to March 10, reported The Tribune.

The present case arises from the petition filed by Gitanjali J. Angmo, the wife of activist Wangchuk who has been detained under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, since September 26, 2025, following violent protests in Leh. The petition filed by Angmo challenges his detention.

“We wanted to see those pen drives. We have asked the Registrar IT to make arrangements during vacations,” said a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P.B. Varale, adding that the court will finish hearing on March 10 and reserve its order.

At the beginning of the hearing on Thursday, a lawyer representing the Union government sought an adjournment on the ground that solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta was busy in another court.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing Angmo, opposed the adjournment plea, and said that this can’t be allowed and the Centre should file written submissions.

After the matter was taken up again at 3:45 pm, SG Mehta told the court that a CD had been submitted and that he would make submissions after the court watched it.

Thereafter, the court deferred the hearing to March 10.

Wangchuk has been held under the NSA since September 26, 2025, two days after demonstrations in Ladakh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule protections turned violent and resulted in four deaths and left 90 injured. The authorities have accused him of instigating the unrest.

Wangchuk and other Ladakh leaders had been fasting for statehood and special constitutional provisions for Ladakh in September 2025 when a section of protesters got violent, and alleged police firing killed four of them. The government invoked the draconian National Security Act against Wangchuk and he has been in jail since. In the days and months before his arrest, the government had cancelled the 40-year lease of Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, and withdrawn a key licence of his NGO.

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