Gitanjali J Angmo on Wednesday sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu for the “unconditional” release of her husband and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been detained under the National Security Act and lodged in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur jail.
Gitanjali has written a letter to the President requesting her to “inject voice of sanity in an otherwise chaotic state of affairs. As the President of India, you embody the principles of Equity, Justice and Conscience!”
“A full-scale witch hunt has been unleashed for the past one month in particular, and for the past four years covertly, to kill the spirit of my husband and all the causes he stands for and espouses”, she said.
“Sonam Wangchuk is a person who can never be a threat to anyone, let alone his Nation. He has dedicated his life to serving the brave sons of soil of Ladakh and stands in solidarity with the Indian Army in defence of our great nation!”, she wrote.
Gitanjali, who is the founder and CEO of Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), said her husband was arrested and shifted to Jodhpur on 26 September, but till now she has not been allowed to talk to him on the phone.
“I am completely unaware of my husband’s condition. I was also told the officer would explain to me my legal rights. Even that has not been done till today,” Gitanjali complained.
She wrote, “I am shocked and devastated. I was put under CRPF surveillance in Village Phyang, where our Institute is also situated. Students and staff of the Institute were also put under tight surveillance. Two members of the Institute were taken into police custody over the past 3 days, presumably without any authority of law. Even the media was not allowed to enter the campus and speak to us so that the truth does not reach the world.”
While detaining him, Wangchuk was not even allowed to take his medicines that he needs on a daily basis, especially after his fast of 15 days in September, which has weakened him physically, she said.
“Yesterday, the security guard of my Institute, received a copy of a communication dated 30.09.2025, informing me about the FIR no. 144 of 2025 under sections 109, 115(2), 118(1), 118(2), 117(2), 125, 189, 190, 191(2), (3), 309, 324, 326(c), (f), (g), 121(1), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, asking me to furnish the names, residential addresses, and photos of students of the HIAL.
“Is it a crime to speak about climate change, melting glaciers, educational reforms, and grassroots innovation? To raise one’s voice for the upliftment of a backward tribal belt, which is ecologically fragile, in a peaceful Gandhian manner for the last four years? It certainly cannot be termed as a threat to national security,” she wrote.
She said Sonam Wangchuk has been building shelters for the Indian Army to make its officers and jawans sleep warm and fight effectively.
”To treat the son of the soil of Ladakh so shabbily is not just a sin but a strategic error for building strong borders with solidarity and peaceful coexistence. My husband, Sonam Wangchuk, has always stood for the solidarity of India, and the strengthening of our borders and the integration of its peripheral regions through a strong democratic mechanism—statehood/UT with legislation and the 6th Schedule.
“Apart from the illegal detention of my husband, the manner in which the State and its agencies are hounding us and have kept us under surveillance is deplorable”, she claimed in the letter.