National
No Reprieve : Supreme Court Adjourns Till December 8 Plea Filed By Wife Against Sonam Wangchuk’s Detention Under NSA
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria deferred the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, sought time to respond to the rejoinder filed by Wangchuk’s wife.
Picture : ANI / X
The Supreme Court has adjourned to December 8 the hearing on a plea filed by the wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, terming his detention under National Security Act as “illegal, and an arbitrary exercise violating his fundamental rights.”
According to media reports, A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria deferred the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, sought time to respond to the rejoinder filed by Wangchuk’s wife.
On October 29, the top court sought response of the Centre and the Ladakh administration on an amended plea of Wangchuk’s wife.
According to the amended plea, “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.
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.
Wangchuk himself condemned the violence through his social media handles and categorically stated that violence would lead to the failure of Ladakh’s “tapasya” and peaceful pursuit of five years, his wife said, adding that “it was the saddest day of his life”