Supreme Court adjourns to October 15 listening to on plea by Sonam Wangchuks spouse alleging mala fide detention

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 14, 2025) adjourned to October 15 the listening to of a habeas corpus petition filed by Dr. Gitanjali J. Angmo, spouse of local weather activist Sonam Wangchuk, difficult his preventive detention beneath the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, following the September 24 violence in Leh.

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A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria deferred the matter on a request by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who knowledgeable the court docket that he was required to look earlier than a particular Bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai at 2 p.m. in a separate matter.

On October 6, the court docket had issued discover to the Union authorities and the Ladakh administration, however left it to the authorities to resolve whether or not the grounds of Mr. Wangchuk’s detention may very well be shared together with his spouse. The Bench had referred to Section 8 of the NSA, which mandates that the grounds be communicated solely to the detainee.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing each the Centre and the Ladakh administration, had submitted that the detention grounds had been “instantly” furnished to Mr. Wangchuk, and that “there was no additional obligation” to share them with anybody else. Mr. Sibal had countered that with out entry to those grounds, Dr. Angmo can be “handicapped” in arguing the habeas corpus plea and demonstrating the arbitrariness of the detention.

When Mr. Sibal identified that the petition had been filed immediately beneath Article 32 because the detention order was issued by the Centre, the Bench queried why the petitioner had not approached the High Court first. “We will hear you all subsequent week and resolve,” the court docket stated, declining to cross any interim aid.

It, nevertheless, recorded Mr. Mehta’s assurance that the authorities would guarantee Mr. Wangchuk’s medical wants had been met in accordance with jail guidelines. “It is noticed that the detenue receives medical care as required and the identical shall be facilitated as per the extant jail guidelines,” the order famous.

Mr. Wangchuk, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee recognized for his work in sustainable training and environmental innovation, was detained beneath the NSA after protests in Leh turned violent, leaving 4 civilians lifeless and a number of other others injured. Authorities have alleged that his speeches, which invoked “self-immolation” as a mode of protest, posed a menace to public order.

Dr. Angmo’s petition has sought a route from the detaining authorities to provide her husband earlier than the court docket, stating that since his detention at Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan on September 26, there isn’t a info out there about his well being or the grounds of detention. She has additionally accused officers of operating a “systematic and false marketing campaign” to malign Mr. Wangchuk’s peaceable motion for Ladakh’s fragile ecology.

Mr. Wangchuk is presently lodged in Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan. He has stated he’s ready to stay in custody till an impartial judicial inquiry is ordered into the killings in the course of the Leh protest. In a letter from Jodhpur jail, launched by advocate Mustafa Haji on October 5, he urged Ladakh residents to proceed their motion “within the true Gandhian means of non-violence.”