Wangchuk detained for instigating people in sensitive border area: Centre tells SC

The Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh administration on Tuesday told the Supreme Court of India that climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) for instigating people in a sensitive border region adjoining Pakistan and China.

Justifying Wangchuk’s detention, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P. B. Varale that all procedural safeguards had been strictly followed while ordering preventive detention.

“This court is dealing with a person who is instigating people in a border area where regional sensitivity is involved,” Mehta submitted, adding that Wangchuk had been treated fairly and that the provisions of the NSA were “scrupulously complied with”.

The arguments remained inconclusive and the hearing is set to continue on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Centre had alleged that Wangchuk attempted to instigate Gen Z youth to launch protests similar to those witnessed in Nepal and Bangladesh. The government also claimed that he had referred to Arab Spring–style agitations, which had resulted in the overthrow of governments in parts of the Arab world.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by Gitanjali J. Angmo, Wangchuk’s wife, challenging his detention under the NSA.

The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner “prejudicial to the defence of India”. The maximum period of detention under the law is 12 months, though it may be revoked earlier.

Opposing the Centre’s submissions, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, argued that the police had relied on “borrowed material” and selectively edited videos to mislead the detaining authority.

Angmo has claimed that the detention is illegal and constitutes an arbitrary exercise of power, violating Wangchuk’s fundamental rights.

Wangchuk was detained on 26 September last year, two days after violent protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and around 90 injured in the Union Territory. The government has accused him of inciting the violence.

The plea contended that it was “wholly preposterous” that Wangchuk would suddenly be targeted after more than three decades of recognition at state, national and international levels for his work in grassroots education, innovation and environmental conservation in Ladakh and elsewhere.

Angmo further said the violence in Leh on 24 September last year could not be attributed to Wangchuk’s actions or statements. Wangchuk himself had condemned the violence on social media and stated that violence would derail Ladakh’s peaceful “tapasya” of the past five years, describing it as the saddest day of his life.