SC seeks response from Centre, Ladakh on plea challenging Sonam Wangchuk’s detention

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh on the amended petition filed by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, challenging his detention.

A bench of the apex court has posted the matter for hearing on November 24, after noting the amended plea and has allowed Wangchuk’s wife to raise additional grounds in the plea against the detention of her husband

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Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of Wangchuk, said in her petition that the detention of her husband is not based on genuine concerns of public order and security. She alleged that it is a calculated move to silence a respected citizen exercising his right to dissent.

Following violent protests in Leh in September over statehood demands and sixth schedule status for  Ladakh, Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA).

The amended plea filed by Wangchuk’s wife, Angmo, on October 15, 2025, questions the legality of his detention and the procedure followed by the authorities.

The petition contended that the detention order is arbitrary and unconstitutional, asserting that the communication of the grounds was neither adequate nor timely.

The plea, filed before the apex court, originally contended that the authorities had lagged in furnishing the grounds of detention as necessitated under Section 8 of the NSA, which makes it mandatory that detainees must be apprised of the reasons for their detention within a stipulated time. However, the Leh administration, in its affidavit filed through District Magistrate Romil Singh Donk, claimed that the grounds were duly communicated to the detainee within the prescribed period.

The Advisory Board constituted under the NSA recently went through Wangchuk’s detention. The three-member panel, comprising former judge MK Hujura (Chairman), District Judge Manoj Parihar, and social activist Spal Jayesh Angmo, held a three-hour closed-door hearing at Jodhpur Central Jail in Rajasthan. Wangchuk and his wife were both present during the proceedings.

Angmo said that in the previous hearing on October 6, she filed a plea seeking the grounds of the detention order, along with a request to inform the party of  Wangchuk’s condition.