New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response of the Centre and the Ladakh administration on an amended plea of Sonam Wangchuk’s wife which termed the climate activist’s detention under the stringent National Security Act as illegal, arbitrary exercise violating his fundamental rights.
A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Union territory of Ladakh to file the response to the amended plea of Gitanjali J Angmo in 10 days and posted the matter for hearing on November 24.
It allowed senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo to file any rejoinder if any.
The amended plea said, “The detention order is founded upon stale FIRs, vague imputations, and speculative assertions, lacks
any live or proximate connection to the purported grounds of detention and is thus devoid of any legal or factual justification.
“Such arbitrary exercise of preventive powers amounts to a gross abuse of authority, striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process, rendering the detention order liable to be vitiated by this court,” it said.
The plea said that it is wholly preposterous that after over three decades of being recognised at the state, national, and international levels for his contributions to grassroots education, innovation, and environmental conservation in Ladakh and across India, Wangchuk would suddenly be targeted.
“Merely two months before the elections and the final rounds of dialogue between ABL (Apex Body of Leh), KDA (Kargil Democratic Alliance), and the Ministry of Home Affairs, he was served with notices for land lease cancellation, FCRA cancellation, initiation of a CBI investigation, and summons from the Income Tax Department.
“These coordinated actions, taken in close temporal proximity, make it prima facie evident that the order of detention is not based on genuine concerns of public order or security but is instead a calculated attempt to silence a respected citizen exercising his democratic and constitutional right to dissent,” Angmo submitted in her plea.
She said the unfortunate events of violence in Leh on September 24 cannot be attributed to the actions or statements of Wangchuk in any manner.
“In fact, there have been no provocative statements made by Sonam Wangchuk on the days/ weeks prior to September 24, 2025 which could remotely be linked to the violence on September 24, 2025. There is no evidence or material on record to show that any statement made by Sonam Wangchuk could have caused or led to any violent incident, especially the incident on September 24, 2025,” it said.