Sonam Wangchuk detained under NSA over alleged national security threat: Authorities to SC

New Delhi [India], October 14 (ANI): The Superintendent of Central Jail in Jodhpur and the District Magistrate of Leh have filed affidavits in the Supreme Court defending the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act, 1980 (NSA).
The District Magistrate said that the detention order of Wangchuk was passed on September 26 after due consideration of all the material placed before him, and that it was based on credible inputs indicating that he was "indulging in activities prejudicial to national security."
"Wangchuk was lawfully detained under a lawful authority after arriving at a subjective satisfaction on the circumstances that prevailed where Sonam Wangchuk had been indulging in activities prejudicial to the Security of the state, Maintenance of Public Order and Services essential to the community," it added.
The affidavit said that he was kept under detention following the violent protests in Ladakh over demands for statehood.
It also rejected the allegations of Wangchuk's illegal detention and submitted that his wife was immediately informed about his arrest by the Leh Police and that the family was timely informed about his transfer to the Jodhpur Central Jail.
It was further informed that on September the grounds of detention were communicated to Wangchuk on September 29, within the time limit of five days specified under Section 8 of the NSA.
He was medically examined, both after his detention and after his production in the Jodhpur Central Jail, and he was found to be fit and he was not under any medication.
In a separate affidavit, the Superintendent of the Jodhpur Central Jail said that on October 4, Wangchuk's lawyer, Mustafa Haji and his brother, Tseten Dorje, were allowed to meet him for one hour. His wife, Gitanjali Angmo, along with advocate Sarvam Rithe Khare, also met him on October 7 for one hour.
"Wangchuk was detained in a Standard Barrack in the General Ward admeasuring 20 feet x 20 feet, where he continues to be detained till date and is the sole occupant of such prison barrack at present," affidavit added.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26 and shifted to Jodhpur central jail in Rajasthan for allegedly inciting a violent protest in Ladakh. He was booked under the NSA after the violence in Leh, in which four persons were killed and 80 others injured.
The protesters have been demanding statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
The habeas corpus plea filed by his wife seeking his release stated that Wangchuk's detention was not genuinely linked to national security or public order but intended to silence a respected environmentalist and social reformer for espousing democratic and ecological causes.
According to the petition, the activist resorted only to peaceful Gandhian protest within Ladakh, an exercise of his constitutional right to speech and assembly. The detention amounts to violation of free speech under Article 19, it stated.
It said the charges were "baseless and floated with the sole object of defaming, maligning and discrediting his peaceful Gandhian movement" aimed at protecting the ecology of Ladakh.
The plea said that a "systematic campaign" had been "unleashed against" Wangchuk, alleging "links with Pakistan and China."
"In particular, a blasphemous narrative suggesting links with Pakistan and China is being intentionally floated in certain quarters with the sole object of defaming, maligning and discrediting a peaceful Gandhian movement for the protection of Ladakh, its fragile ecology, its mountains, glaciers, and the livelihood of its people," stated the plea.
Angmo also challenged the transfer of Wangchuk to the Central Jail in Jodhpur over a thousand kilometres from Ladakh, the site of protests. (ANI)