New Delhi [India], October 3 (HBTV): Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali Angmo, on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking her husband's release. Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) and shifted to Jodhpur Central Jail in Rajasthan for allegedly inciting violent protests in Ladakh.
He was booked under the NSA after violence in Leh on September 24, in which four people were killed and 80 others injured.
In a post on X, Angmo said she had no information about Wangchuk's health or the grounds of his detention. ‘I have sought relief from the Supreme Court of India through a habeas corpus petition against @Wangchuk66's detention. It is one week today. Still I have no information about Sonam Wangchuk's health, the condition he is in nor the grounds of detention,’ she wrote.
Earlier, Angmo criticised the Centre and alleged police torture in Ladakh following the September 24 violence. Comparing the situation to British India, she wrote, ‘Is India really free? In 1857, 24,000 Britishers used 135,000 Indian sepoys to oppress 300 million Indians under orders from the Queen. Today, a dozen administrators are misusing 2,400 Ladakhi police to oppress and torture 3 lakh Ladakhis under the orders of the MHA.’
Her criticism came amid curfew in Leh and reports of police firing in response to the protests. Following Wangchuk's detention under the NSA, Angmo rejected allegations that he was in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative, accusing the Ladakh Police of working with an agenda. ‘Whatever the DGP is saying, he has an agenda. They don't want to implement the Sixth Schedule under any circumstances and want to make someone a scapegoat,’ she alleged.
Angmo has also sent a representation for Wangchuk’s release to the President of India, the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the Law Minister, the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh and the Deputy Commissioner of Leh.
The September 24 violence broke out during protests demanding statehood and inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule. Demonstrators set a political party's office on fire, leading to police retaliation in which four people were killed.
(ANI)