New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing on a plea filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA). The case will now be heard on October 15.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria adjourned the matter due to a shortage of time. The top court had earlier, on October 6, issued notices to the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh regarding the petition. However, it declined to issue any interim order directing the authorities to provide the grounds of detention and listed the matter for further hearing on October 14, which has now been postponed again.
Wangchuk was detained under the stringent NSA on September 26, two days after violent protests in Ladakh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status led to the deaths of four people and injuries to nearly 90 others. Authorities accused him of inciting the unrest.
The National Security Act empowers the central and state governments to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner “prejudicial to the defence of India.” The maximum detention period under the Act is 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier. Wangchuk is currently lodged in Jodhpur jail, Rajasthan.
In her habeas corpus petition, Angmo questioned the legality of invoking the NSA against her husband, calling it an abuse of preventive detention powers. She urged the apex court to direct the Ladakh administration to produce Wangchuk before the court and sought his immediate release.
The plea also demanded that she be granted immediate access to Wangchuk and that the preventive detention order be quashed altogether.
