Aathira Perinchery 
New Delhi: Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and around 80 others, who have been detained in police stations across Delhi for participating in a peaceful ‘Climate March’ that was set to enter the city on October 1, began indefinite fasts while still in custody.
The Delhi police had detained them on the night of September 30 at the Singhu border.
The Delhi high court will hear a petition seeking their release on Thursday (October 3); the petition also seeks to quash the prohibitory order imposed by the Delhi police on September 30 that bans the assembly of more than five people in parts of Delhi, thereby preventing the entry of the Climate March into the city.
The 1,000-kilometre Climate March led by Wangchuk began in Leh on September 1 and the 150-odd participants hoped to submit their demands, including the implementation of the sixth schedule in Ladakh, to the Union government when they arrived at Delhi.
Their arrests by the Delhi Police are “illegal”, “immoral” and an “undeclared emergency”, and the prohibitory order goes against the tenets of democracy and the constitution, said activists, civil society groups and politicians. Many called for the immediate release of the detainees.
Leh, meanwhile, witnessed huge protests on October 1, as people gathered and raised slogans saying they wanted statehood.
Climate Marchers begin indefinite fasts in custody
On the night of September 30, the Delhi police detained Ladakhi climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and at least 80 men – including septuagenarians – after the Delhi police commissioner issued a prohibitory order banning protests, demonstrations or campaigns in New Delhi from September 30 to October 5.
After the 1,000-km walk – traversing the tough terrains of Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, the plains of Punjab and Haryana and into the national capital to raise awareness about their issues – Wangchuk and the padyatris hoped to submit their demands to the Union government.
Their chief demand is that the current government uphold its promise and implement the sixth schedule in Ladakh, and designate the Union territory as a state so that locals can be better empowered to be stakeholders in making decisions that will also help preserve and protect the fragile environment and natural wealth of Ladakh while investing in developmental projects.
Wangchuk and others participating in the Climate March arrived at the Singhu border in Haryana by buses on the evening of September 30. The plan was to halt for the night there, continue their Climate March on foot towards New Delhi on October 1 and arrive at Rajghat – where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated – in a peaceful, silent march on October 2 to pay their respects to Gandhi, whose birth is celebrated on the day.
However the Delhi police stopped their buses at the Singhu border on the night of September 30 and detained Wangchuk and around 80 men who were part of the Climate March at three police stations in Delhi.
By the morning of October 1, all detainees being held in all police stations, including Jaffarpur, Kanjhawala, Bawana and Rohini in Delhi began indefinite fasts to protest against their unlawful arrests. These included members of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (including its co-chairman), and representatives of religious organisations.
“We were brought here to a police station in Rohini last night,” Stanzin, a Ladakhi who is participating in the Climate March, told The Wire on October 1. “Even though we came so peacefully the police detained us … I was astonished to see how many police personnel were deployed for us, at least 500, we were 150-odd … Is India anymore a democracy? This doesn’t happen in a democracy … in a democracy everyone is given rights.”
Stanzin also showed The Wire over video how 19 men had been detained in a small room in the police station.
On October 3, the Delhi high court will hear the petition seeking the release of Wangchuk and all Climate Marchers. Accessed by The Wire, the petition also seeks to quash the prohibitory order imposed by the police on September 30. The order – effective from September 30 to October 5 – bans the assembly of more than five people, thereby preventing the resumption of the Climate March in the city, and also bans protests, demonstrations or campaigns during this time.
Detentions are “illegal”, “immoral”
Activists and numerous civil society groups expressed strong concerns about the arrests of Wangchuk and the other Climate March members, and also came out in solidarity with the Ladakhis’ demands.
At a press conference held in New Delhi on October 1, environmentalist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said that the arrests amounted to “illegal detention”.
“Why is the Centre afraid?” asked Patkar at the conference. She added that none of them were against development; they want development but it has to be mindful of the environment, local communities and nature.
Soumya Dutta, climate researcher and co-convener of Delhi’s South Asian People’s Action on Climate Crisis, said that the arrests were not only “illegal”, but also “immoral”.
“This is not just about one person, Sonam Wangchuk, but about the western Himalaya,” Dutta said. He said that impacts of climate change on the western Himalaya [where Ladakh is situated] is 1.8 times more than in peninsular India. The rivers that give water to Punjab, Haryana and even Pakistan arise from the western Himalaya and are fed by melting snow and ice.
“India’s food security depends on these rivers,” Dutta said. However, with increased global warming, ice cover has decreased, while mass tourism and destructive development also threaten the survival of these rivers, he added.
So the peaceful ‘fight’ – through the silent Climate March in Delhi – was not just for Ladakh but for the entire country, Dutta also said. “All of us extend full support to the Ladakhis’ demands and will do whatever is needed to make this peoples’ movement successful.”
At the press conference, Patkar also announced that they would engage in a fast from 8 am to 8 pm on October 2 in solidarity with the detained Ladakhis.
“Instead of opening a receptive dialogue with the Ladakh marchers and their supporters from all across the Himalayas and the nation, the Union government chose to act in [a] dictatorial manner by imposing prohibitory orders across Delhi and illegally detain (sic) the peaceful climate marchers,” the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) – which Patkar is also associated with – said in a statement issued on October 1.
The NAPM also demanded the immediate release of all detainees, the withdrawal of the prohibitory orders and the “opening up of a genuinely sensitive dialogue with the Ladakh climate marchers”.
‘Deplorable condition of democracy’, ‘misuse of law’
On October 1, more than 40 civil society groups as part of the People for Himalaya and Youth for Himalaya collectives released a joint statement condemning the arrests of the Ladakhi padyatris and noting the “deplorable conditions of the Indian democracy”.
“It is now clear that no matter how peaceful your dissent is and no matter how much patriotism you show for the country, the state will make blatant use of power against the most gentle of citizens in order [to] protect the interests of the corporates who want to grab the resources of regions like the Himalaya,” the statement read.
The “wrongful detention” of Wangchuk and others “is adequate proof of this allegiance and nexus”, they said.
“It is a highly condemnable act by the Delhi police and the Central government. The yatris have been walking for a month starting from Leh on September 1, 2024 with [a] clear demand for 6th schedule and statehood for Ladakh to protect the ecological, socio-economic and cultural security and rights of the trans-Himalayan region.
“We support this demand and call for the immediate release of the peaceful citizens of [the] tribal and minority community of [the] Himalayan [borderlands].”
The prohibitory order imposed by the Delhi police for six days cited Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS, the equivalent of Section 144 of the earlier Code of Criminal Procedure).
A statement released by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on October 1 noted that the order was “appalling” and not only “a violation [of the] constitutional freedoms under Article 19 of the Indian constitution” but also “an undermining of our democracy”.
Article 19 guarantees every Indian citizen their right to freedom of speech and expression. It also gives an Indian citizen the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, and to move freely throughout the territory of India.
However, a clause also permits the state to make any law that imposes “reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right” if aspects such as threats to the security of the state and public order, among others, are involved.
“From a reading of the prohibitory order it appears to have been issued citing any available excuse … This prohibitory order has been used to stop Sonam Wangchuk and 150 Ladakhi padyatris at the Delhi borders, hence the question that begs to be answered is whether the government treats them as infiltrators and instigators creating public disorder in the national capital,” the PUCL statement read.
“This not only raises strong suspicion on the justifications provided by the Delhi police in the prohibitory order, but also points to a clear case of misuse of Section 163 of the BNSS with a view to silence the legitimate voice of Ladakhi people and citizens of the country.
“This is also part of the growing trend in the country of the frequent misuse and continuous imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC/Section 163 BNSS, with a view to curtail [the] constitutional freedoms and democratic expression of citizens, which has made peaceful protests virtually impossible in Delhi and other parts of the country due to the backlash faced by citizens on account of denial of permission, use of police force, detention and criminalisation of protesters, thereby having the effect of silencing people’s voices.”
This is not the first time Ladakhis are facing this issue. In April this year, Wangchuk and hundreds of Ladakhis had to cancel their “Pashmina March”, a walk they planned to conduct from Leh to the Changthang area in northern Ladakh.
The Changthang is one of the world’s highest pasture lands, where nomadic pastoral communities graze their prized indigenous goats that produce the very sought-after pashmina wool.
The Pashmina March aimed to highlight how pastoralists in the Changthang are losing access to grazing lands both due to Union government projects and Chinese incursion. However, Wangchuk and local leaders canceled the March a day before it was scheduled because the Union government imposed Section 144 in the area and police forces arrested youth leaders. Internet access was also shut down temporarily in the area.
Leh was reduced to a “warzone”, Wangchuk had then said, adding that this was not what he wanted.
The PUCL demanded that the detainees be released immediately and be allowed to continue their march towards Rajghat.
Leh protests; ‘Undeclared emergency’, say politicians
The people of Leh had a similar demand. Hundreds gathered in Leh on October 1 in protest against the Delhi police’s detention of Wangchuk and others.
“Central government, shame shame, Delhi police shame shame,” the protestors shouted. “We want statehood.”
The Kargil Democratic Alliance has announced a protest rally in Kargil on October 2 to raise their voices against the padyatris’ detention. Executive members of the Alliance are taking part in the Climate March and have also been detained in police stations in Delhi.
In a press statement at Leh on October 1, representatives of the Alliance said that it was “shameful” that India, known as the mother of democracy, resorted to detaining the Climate Marchers.
“Where else will we go to raise our concerns? But they’re not even ready to hear us out … instead we are being detained … our voices are being silenced…We now feel that those who are at the Centre are afraid of our voices,” it said in the press conference.
Politicians across party lines also condemned the arrests.
“The detention of Sonam Wangchuk ji and hundreds of Ladakhis peacefully marching for environmental and constitutional rights is unacceptable,” Lok Sabha leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X on October 1.
“Why are elderly citizens being detained at Delhi’s border for standing up for Ladakh’s future? Modi ji, like with the farmers, this ‘Chakravyuh’ will be broken, and so will your arrogance. You will have to listen to Ladakh’s voice,” he added.
Mohammed Haneefa, MP from the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency, said that it was “deeply unfortunate that we have been denied the right to conduct a peaceful walk in the capital and were stopped at the border”.
“I urge the authorities not to corner the people by denying their fundamental right to protest, especially after taking so much from the people of Ladakh – employment opportunities, land rights, political representation and more,” he said in a post on X.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi, recently appointed chief minister of Delhi after Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation, said that when she arrived at the Bawana police station to meet Wangchuk on October 1, she was not permitted to enter the station nor meet him.
“Sonam Wangchuk ji arrived in Delhi to peacefully make Ladakh’s voice heard … However, the loktantra virodhi [anti-democracy] and samvidhaan virodhi [anti-constitution] Bharatiya Janata Party arrested him,” she told media persons.
“This is the BJP’s taanashahi [dictatorship]. The LG [lieutenant governor] raj should end in Ladakh. And similarly, LG raj has to end in Delhi too.”
Union territories – as Delhi and Ladakh currently are – are governed by a lieutenant governor who is appointed by the president.
Saurabh Bhardwaj, AAP MLA from Greater Kailash, said in a social media post that this was an “undeclared emergency”.
“Undeclared emergency. This order [prohibitory order issued by Delhi police] mentions 100 odd reasons why there should be curfew like situation in Delhi. None of the reason appears genuine. I believe Centre is scared that people of Delhi will raise voice against rise of GANSTERS & firing incidents for extortion in Delhi,” his post on X read.
With inputs from Zeeshan Kaskar.