Supreme court reached wife for Sonam’s release
Gitanjali J Angamo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, has approached the Supreme Court challenging the custody of her husband under the National Security Act (Rasuk). Wangchuk’s wife has requested the court to release her husband immediately. Wangchuk was detained on 26 September under the Strict National Security Act (Rasuka), two days after demonstrations in Ladakh. Four people were killed and 90 people were injured in the protests in that union territory to demand state status to Ladakh and include them in the sixth schedule. Wangchuk is currently lodged in Jodhpur Jail in Rajasthan on charges of spreading violence.
In his petition filed through senior advocate Vivek Tankha and advocate Sarvam Ritam Khare, Angamo has also questioned the decision to put Rasuka against Wangchuk. Angamo has requested to list it immediately in the prisoner corpus petition filed in the court and to present the Ladakh Union Territory Administration to the court immediately before the court. The petition also requested to provide immediate contact till the captive and cancel the preventive detention order.
Allow to contact contact
In the petition, Deputy Commissioner of Union Home Ministry, Ladakh Union Territory Administration, Leh and Jodhpur Jail Superintendent have been made party. At the same time, they have also been requested to give instructions to allow the petitioner to telephone and personally contact her husband immediately. The petition alleged that Wangchuk’s custody is illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional, which is a violation of guaranteed fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution.
Why did you not tell till date
The petition states that Wangchuk has been internationally acclaimed, environmentalists and social reformers. He has always supported Gandhian and peaceful methods to highlight Ladakh’s ecological and democratic concerns. The petition said that he was immediately transferred to the Central Jail of Jodhpur without meeting medicines, personal goods or their family and lawyer. It has been claimed in the petition that Wangchuk or his family, no basis for detaining them has been told till date.
The people of Ladakh consider Wangchuk as their leader
Wangchuk’s wife has alleged that she has been kept under house arrest in Leh, while the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), established by Wangchuk, is facing harassment, threats and intruders investigation to students and employees of Ladakh (HIAL). The false propagation of connecting Wangchuk to foreign institutions clearly shows malicious state action taken with the intention of suppressing democratic disagreement and peaceful environmental activity. It states that the arrests have caused serious mental anguish and pain to the people of Ladakh, who consider Wangchuk as their leader.
