The Supreme Court has adjourned to January 29 the hearing on a plea filed by the wife of Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act. The petition alleges arbitrary detention, non-supply of complete grounds, and violation of fundamental rights.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a petition filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act. The matter has now been listed for January 29, 2026.
A Bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and P B Varale deferred the hearing and directed,
“List for further hearing on January 29, 2026,”.
Angmo informed the court that the detaining authority had failed to properly apply its mind and had relied on irrelevant material while ordering her husband’s detention.
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She submitted that the contents and tone of a speech delivered by Wangchuk in Leh were not meant to provoke or encourage violence, but rather to calm the situation. According to her, the facts had been twisted and manipulated to wrongly portray him as a criminal.
She further argued that Wangchuk was not supplied with the “complete grounds” of his detention and was also denied a fair and effective opportunity to make a representation against the detention order before the competent authority.
On these grounds, the plea states that the detention is illegal and arbitrary, and that it violates Wangchuk’s fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court had earlier deferred the matter on November 24 last year after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, sought time to respond to a rejoinder filed by Angmo.
Prior to that, on October 29, the top court had issued notice and sought responses from the Centre and the Ladakh administration on Angmo’s amended petition.
Wangchuk was detained under the stringent provisions of the NSA on September 26 last year, just two days after violent protests erupted in Ladakh demanding statehood and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Those protests resulted in the death of four people and injuries to around 90 others in the Union Territory. The government has alleged that Wangchuk played a role in inciting the violence.
However, the amended plea strongly disputes this claim and asserts that the detention order is based on
“stale FIRs, vague imputations and speculative assertions, lacks any live or proximate connection to the purported grounds of detention and is, thus, devoid of any legal or factual justification”.
It further contends,
“Such arbitrary exercise of preventive power amounts to gross abuse of authority, striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process, rendering the detention order liable to be vitiated by this court,”.
Angmo has also pointed out that it is highly unreasonable and shocking that Wangchuk, who has spent over three decades being recognised at the state, national and international levels for his work in grassroots education, innovation and environmental conservation in Ladakh and across India, would suddenly be treated as a threat to national security.
She has categorically stated that the unfortunate incidents of violence in Leh on September 24 cannot, in any manner, be linked to Wangchuk’s actions or statements.
According to the plea, Wangchuk had himself publicly condemned the violence through his social media platforms and had clearly said that such violence would lead to the failure of Ladakh’s “tapasya” and its peaceful struggle over the last five years. Angmo added that Wangchuk had described that day as the saddest day of his life.
The plea also explains the scope of the NSA, which gives powers to the Centre and state governments to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in any manner
“prejudicial to the defence of India”.
Under the law, a person can be preventively detained for up to 12 months, though the detention can be revoked earlier depending on the circumstances.
The Supreme Court will now take up the matter again on January 29, when it is expected to further examine the legality of Wangchuk’s detention and the constitutional issues raised in the petition.
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