NSA case against Sonam Wangchuk ‘illegal and lacks merit’, says wife Gitanjali Angmo

Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s detention under the National Security Act is “illegal” and has “no merit”, which is why the Union government was repeatedly seeking fresh court dates in the appeal against it, his wife Gitanjali Angmo was quoted as alleging by PTI on Sunday.

“The solicitor general of India, who represents the Union [government], always keeps taking dates after dates, employing delay tactics, because I think they have realised that there is no merit in the case,” she said in an interview to the news agency.

Angmo added that Wangchuk should already be out of prison due to what she described as serious “procedural lapses” by the authorities.

Police firing and violence had broken out in Leh on September 24 during protests seeking statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Demonstrators clashed with and threw stones at the police, and set fire to the Bharatiya Janata Party office and a police vehicle.

Wangchuk was arrested in Leh on September 26, two days after four persons were killed in the police firing. He was later taken to a jail in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur.

The Union government has claimed that the violence was incited by Wangchuk’s “provocative statements”.

In October, Angmo filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging his detention and seeking his immediate release. She has contended that the detention order relied on “stale, irrelevant and extraneous” first information reports, many of which did not name Wangchuk.

She told PTI that the matter was an “open and shut case” and said the detention reflected the “state of democracy in the country”, where power was being used to illegally detain “people who have been working for this country”.

“If it can happen to Sonam, it can happen to anybody else,” she added.

Angmo said that obtaining the detention order and meeting her husband had also required approaching the court, and that even accessing his handwritten notes was difficult.

On October 15, the Union government told the Supreme Court that it had no objection to Wangchuk sharing the notes he had prepared while in jail to challenge his detention with his wife.

She also highlighted that under the National Security Act, all documents forming the grounds of detention must be supplied to the detainee within “five or a maximum of 10 days”. However, she alleged that four videos relied upon by the authorities were provided to Wangchuk only after 28 days, which she said amounted to a major procedural lapse that should render the detention void from the outset.

“In a way, it is an open and shut case just on this alone because it violates Section 8 of the National Security Act,” she said. “Corollary to this is that because he did not get these videos, he was denied a chance to make an effective representation.”

Angmo also said that the grounds of detention were “stale” and some of them “rely on videos that are one and a half years old or one year old”.

She said that three of the five first information reports cited by the authorities did not name Wangchuk, while one of the two that did, dated back to August, had not been followed by any notice or inquiry.

She further alleged that the district magistrate’s detention order was largely a “copy-paste” of the proposal submitted by the superintendent of police, without independent application of mind.

On the issue being raised in Parliament, Angmo said she was grateful to those who spoke about it, including Ladakh MP Mohmad Haneefa, but expressed disappointment that it had not been pursued more forcefully.

Angmo also said the detention had highlighted growing polarisation in society and appealed to people to think beyond party or sectarian lines and “become a true citizen of independent India, you know, with a mind and wisdom of our own”.

“Let us not lose our wisdom and discernment and be swayed by narratives and party ideologies,” she added.

Also read: Nine false claims about Sonam Wangchuk – and why they fall flat