The apex 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 Wangchuk's wife Angmo
Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the NSA on September 26 last year. FILE PIC
The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned to January 29 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), news agency PTI reported.
A bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale deferred the matter, saying, “List for further hearing on January 29, 2026.”
On Monday, Angmo told the court that the detaining authority had failed to apply its mind and had relied on irrelevant material while ordering her husband’s detention, PTI reported.
She submitted that the tenor of a speech delivered by Wangchuk in Leh was not intended to incite violence but to quell it, and alleged that facts were being twisted to portray him as a criminal.
Angmo further contended that Wangchuk was neither furnished with the “complete grounds” of his detention nor given a proper opportunity to make an effective representation against the action, PTI reported.
The plea alleges that the detention is illegal and arbitrary, amounting to a violation of Wangchuk’s fundamental rights.
Sonam Wangchuk NSA case: 'Sept 24 violence in Ladakh could not be attributed to activist's actions'
The apex 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. On October 29, the court had sought responses from the Centre and the Ladakh administration on Angmo’s amended plea.
Wangchuk was detained under the NSA on September 26 last year, two days after violent protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory. The government has accused Wangchuk of inciting the violence.
According to the amended plea, the detention order is based on “stale FIRs, vague imputations and speculative assertions” and lacks any live or proximate link with the alleged grounds of detention, rendering it devoid of legal or factual basis.
“Such arbitrary exercise of preventive power amounts to a gross abuse of authority, striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process, and renders the detention order liable to be set aside by this court,” the plea states.
It further argues that it is wholly implausible that Wangchuk, who has been recognised for over three decades at the state, national and international levels for his work in grassroots education, innovation and environmental conservation, would suddenly be targeted.
Angmo said the violence that erupted in Leh on September 24 could not be attributed to Wangchuk’s actions or statements. She pointed out that Wangchuk had condemned the violence on social media, calling it the “saddest day” of his life, and had warned that such incidents would derail Ladakh’s peaceful “tapasya” of the past five years.
The NSA empowers the Centre and state governments 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 can be revoked earlier.
(With PTI inputs)
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