SC seeks response from Centre over Sonam Wangchuk wife's plea against his detention

New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre, Union Territory of Ladakh, Superintendent of Police Jodhpur Central jail, on a plea of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali Angmo, against his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) and seeking his release.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria issued notice to the governments and posted the matter for hearing on October 14.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Wangchuk's wife, told the bench that the grounds of detention have not been supplied to the family, and it should be served on her.
Sibal stated that the plea challenges the detention as illegal under Article 22, as no grounds for arrest have been provided. He stated that without grounds for detention, the detention order cannot be challenged.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the government, said the grounds of detention already served to detainee (Wangchuk) and there is no legal requirement for the grounds of detention to be communicated to the wife.
Mehta agreed to examine the feasibility of serving a copy of the grounds to his wife.
During the hearing, Sibal also asked for the interim relief seeking medical support for Wangchuk. To this, Mehta stated that when the activist was produced for a medical examination, he declared that he was not taking any medication.
However, the Solicitor General said that if any medical supplies were needed, they would be given. Sibal further asked the bench to allow Wangchuk's wife to meet her husband. Mehta said that Angmo had submitted a request to meet him, and it was being considered.
Solicitor General said that Angmo was trying to create a "hype and an emotive issue" that Wangchuk was denied medical relief and meetings with his wife.
"This is all just to portray in media and in that region that he is deprived of medicines and access to wife. Just to create an emotive atmosphere. That's all," said Mehta.
Along with Sibal, senior advocate Vivek Tankha also appeared for Angmo. Wangchuk's wife was also present in the court during the hearing.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26 and shifted to Jodhpur Central Jail in Rajasthan for allegedly inciting a violent protest in Ladakh. He was booked under the NSA after the violence in Leh, in which four people were killed and 80 others were injured.
The protesters have been demanding statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
The habeas corpus plea stated 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.
According to the petition, the activist resorted only to peaceful Gandhian protest within Ladakh, an exercise of his constitutional right to speech and assembly. The detention amounts to violation of free speech under Article 19, it stated.
It said the charges were "baseless and floated with the sole object of defaming, maligning and discrediting his peaceful Gandhian movement" aimed at protecting the ecology of Ladakh.
The plea said that a "systematic campaign" had been "unleashed against" Wangchuk, alleging "links with Pakistan and China."
"In particular, a blasphemous narrative suggesting links with Pakistan and China is being intentionally floated in certain quarters with the sole object of defaming, maligning and discrediting a peaceful Gandhian movement for the protection of Ladakh, its fragile ecology, its mountains, glaciers, and the livelihood of its people," stated the plea.
Angmo also challenged the transfer of Wangchuk to the Central Jail in Jodhpur over a thousand kilometres from Ladakh, the site of protests. (ANI)