'Sonam Wangchuk's arrest can be challenged in court but detention order yet to be shared': Prashant Bhushan

Sonam Wangchuk (File photo)

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday said that the arrest of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act (NSA) can be contested in court, though his family has yet to receive the detention order. He stressed that the law requires authorities to provide a copy of the order within five days, but this has not been done.

“They are supposed to serve the copy of the order within five days... today, the five days have passed and they have not yet served a copy of the order,” Bhushan said at a press conference in Delhi, held alongside political activist Yogendra Yadav. Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, also confirmed she has neither received the order nor been able to communicate with her husband since his arrest.

Bhushan explained that the NSA allows preventive detention only when there is a genuine apprehension that releasing a person would threaten peace or national security. “The law under the NSA is that you can preventively detain somebody about whom there is serious apprehension that his non-detention would lead to breach of peace and breach of national security. And the Supreme Court further says that you have to give good reasons in your detention order as to why you have that apprehension,” he said.

“In Sonam Wangchuk’s case, exactly the opposite is true. In fact, it is his detention which can possibly lead to breach of peace because it has agitated large numbers of people in Ladakh,” Bhushan argued. He added, “The government’s move to detain him is not valid in any way. It is malafide, unfair, and would not help in any way.”

Responding to accusations that Wangchuk had links with Pakistan, Bhushan countered: “He had gone there to attend a conference; whatever he said there is all on record. He even appreciated the Modi government.”

Yogendra Yadav, meanwhile, launched a sharp attack on the government, calling the move “petty” and branding Wangchuk “the Gandhi of Ladakh.” “Sonam Wangchuk is the Gandhi of Ladakh, if any government thinks that by putting him in jail, this Gandhi will become smaller, they are wrong... It’s the government which is being petty,” Yadav declared.

He reminded the Centre of Ladakh’s historic role in national defence. “People of Ladakh, whether it was during the Kargil war or any other war, have stood by the Indian Army and fought against China. Alleging that they are anti-national, imposing curfew, not even allowing them to conduct the last rites of those who died in the protest,” he said.

Yadav also told PTI that if necessary, civil society groups and people’s movements from across the country were prepared to travel to Ladakh in solidarity. “Several civil society groups and people’s movements from across the country are standing in support of Wangchuk, and if required, they will go to Ladakh to express solidarity,” he said, warning that “this government is doing what the British did in India. This will only weaken the country. This government talks about nationalism, but has made the country weaker in the border areas, thereby weakening national security.”

“Sonam Wangchuk was the person who called for the boycott of Chinese goods... Ex-soldiers are part of the protest; they are being called anti-national,” Yadav added.

Meanwhile, the political impact of Wangchuk’s detention continues to unfold in Ladakh. Both the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA)—the two key groups representing Leh and Kargil in negotiations with the Centre—have suspended talks.

On Monday, LAB chairman Thupstan Chhewang and co-chairman Chering Dorjay stressed that a “conducive atmosphere” must be restored before any dialogue can proceed. The KDA went further the next day, announcing it would not return to the negotiating table until Wangchuk and others were released and a judicial inquiry was ordered into the police firing in Leh.

After LAB announced it will not engage in discussions with the High Powered Committee of the Union Home Ministry until peace returns to Ladakh, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement on Monday to say that the government has always been open for dialogues at any time.

"The Government has always been open for dialogues on Ladakh matters with the Apex Body Leh (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) at any time. We would continue to welcome discussions with ABL and KDA through the HPC on Ladakh or any other suitable platform, Home Ministry said in the statement.

It said that the dialogue mechanism established with LAB and KDA through the High Powered Committee (HPC) on Ladakh has yielded good results to date in the form of increased reservations to the Scheduled Tribes of Ladakh, providing women's reservations in Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) and protection to local languages.