New Delhi— Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk will continue to remain in Jodhpur Jail for now after the Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the hearing on his wife Gitanjali J Angmo’s amended petition seeking his immediate release from detention under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980. The matter will now be heard on November 24.
A Bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice N.V. Anjaria allowed Angmo’s plea to amend her petition after senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before the court. The Bench directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, to respond to the amended petition within ten days. Angmo has been granted one week thereafter to file a rejoinder, if necessary.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26 under Section 3(2) of the NSA, two days after protests demanding Ladakh’s statehood and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule turned violent, leaving four people dead and nearly 100 injured.
In her amended plea, Angmo described the detention as “illegal, arbitrary, and unconstitutional,” arguing that it violated Wangchuk’s fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21, and 22 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court had earlier postponed the hearing on October 15 after Angmo sought time to introduce additional grounds and reliefs.
Her revised petition contends that the detention order is “ex-facie unsustainable in law” since it relies on “irrelevant grounds, stale FIRs, extraneous material, and suppression of facts.” According to the petition, five FIRs were cited to justify the detention — three over a year old and one registered just a day before the arrest, which only mentioned “unknown miscreants.”
Angmo emphasized that Wangchuk was not named in four of the five FIRs and argued that there was “no rational or proximate connection” between those cases and his preventive detention.
She also rejected allegations that Wangchuk delivered provocative speeches before the September 24 violence. According to her, he had merely observed a peaceful hunger strike to demand Ladakh’s statehood and had explicitly advocated for non-violence.
The petition further states that authorities selectively quoted Wangchuk’s reference to Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh from his speech. Angmo clarified that he was responding to earlier speakers and had clearly said that Ladakh’s movement would remain peaceful, declaring, “We can have a peaceful revolution… where we starve ourselves to bring change but not bother anyone else.”
Angmo asserted that Wangchuk did not instigate the Apex Body Leh (ABL) or Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) to organize protests, pointing out that both groups had already planned agitations before Wangchuk’s involvement. She said the ABL and KDA had even held a joint hunger strike in August 2025, demanding that the Centre resume talks with Ladakh’s representatives.
The Supreme Court will next hear the case on November 24, after receiving responses from both sides.
