Supreme Court adjourns to January 29 hearing on wife's plea challenging Sonam Wangchuk's detention

Wangchuk was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on September 26 last year, two days after violent protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to January 29 the hearing of a plea filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, the wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, against his detention under the National Security Act.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P B Varale deferred the matter.

"List for further hearing on January 29, 2026," the bench said.

Angmo told the court on Monday that the detaining authority had not applied his mind and relied on irrelevant material while detaining her husband.

She had earlier submitted that the tenor of a speech delivered by her husband at Leh was not to propagate violence, but to quell it, and that facts were being manipulated to portray him as a criminal.

Angmo had also told the court that Wangchuk was not provided with the "complete grounds" of his detention or given a proper opportunity to make a representation to the authority concerned against the action.

The plea claims that the detention is illegal and an arbitrary exercise, violating Wangchuk's fundamental rights.

The top court deferred the matter on November 24 last year, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, sought time to respond to a rejoinder filed by Angmo.

On October 29, the court sought responses from the Centre and the Ladakh administration on an amended plea of Angmo.

Wangchuk was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on September 26 last year, two days after violent protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory. The government has accused Wangchuk of inciting the violence.

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 power amounts to 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," the plea has contended.

It has said that it is wholly preposterous that after more than 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.

Angmo has 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 had himself condemned the violence through his social media handles and categorically said it would lead to the failure of Ladakh's "tapasya" and peaceful pursuit of five years, Angmo said, adding that it was the saddest day of his life.

The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner "prejudicial to the defence of India". The maximum detention period is 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier.