Supreme Court Issues Notice to Union Government in Plea Against Sonam Wangchuk's Detention
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union government on the habeas corpus plea filed by activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali Angmo, against his incarceration under the National Security Act.
Angmo is represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal who said, according to Bar and Bench, "We are against the detention."
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria sought the response of the government.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the Union government, said that the grounds of Wangchuk's detention "have been supplied" to Wangchuk.
Many including lawyer Indira Jaising have wondered why, going against the roster published on the Supreme Court website, this habeas corpus matter was not assigned to the Chief Justice of India, Justices Surya Kant and M.M. Sundresh.
The Union home ministry has sought to link the violence in the Ladakh protests, which erupted on September 24 after days of peaceful agitation led by Wangchuk, to the noted environmentalist and activist.
Four people died in alleged firing by security forces after the protests turned violent in Leh on September 24.
Wangchuk, who had been on a two-week fast at that time, ended it immediately. He was arrested shortly afterwards.
Angmo had moved the apex court on October 2, but judges were on their Dussehra vacation.
“It is one week today. Still I have no information about Sonam Wangchuk’s health, the condition he is in nor the grounds of detention,” Angmo had posted on the morning of October 3.
In her petition, Angmo has held, according to Bar and Bench, that Wangchuk’s detention was not genuinely linked to national security or public order but intended to silence a respected environmentalist and social reformer for espousing democratic and ecological causes.
Since then, Wangchuk's lawyer and elder brother have met him in Jodhpur central jail, where he is lodged. Wangchuk has called for an independent judicial probe into the four killings and has vowed to remain in jail till the time such an inquiry is constituted.
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