Today, the Supreme Court will hear a habeas corpus petition from Sonam Wangchuk’s wife. She is asking the court to overturn his arrest under the National Security Act (NSA). Last month, Wangchuk was jailed when a lot of people in Leh protested for Ladakh to become a state.
The petition, which was filed on October 2nd under Article 32 of the Constitution, questions the legality of Wangchuk’s arrest on September 26th and his transfer to Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan, where he is still being held under the NSA, a law that allows people to be held without charge for threats to national security or public order.
The Unrest and the Accusations
Wangchuk was arrested after rallies for statehood in Leh turned violent on September 24. The protests turned violent and led to fights with police, which killed four people and hurt many more. The protesters also set fire to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) local offices.
Officials say that Wangchuk was a big part of what caused the protests to happen.
A few days after he was arrested, the Ladakh government made a public announcement about the “grounds of detention.” Officials said that Wangchuk had “repeatedly brought up the idea of ‘self-immolation’ in his public speeches, drawing comparisons to protest tactics used in Tibet.” The administration said that this kind of talk was a “serious threat to public order.”
Government says provocation and cracks down on NGOs
The Union Home Ministry (MHA) said that Wangchuk’s supposed “provocative statements” were to blame for the mob violence. The MHA statement went into detail about what happened on September 24th: “Around 11:30 AM, a mob inspired by his inflammatory speeches left the hunger strike site and attacked both the office of a political party and the office of the CEC Leh government.” They also set these offices on fire, attacked the guards, and set the police car on fire.
The authorities cancelled the FCRA registration of Wangchuk’s nonprofit, the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), which has been around for 30 years. They said this was because they had “repeat” violations of the rule that governs foreign funding for NGOs. SECMOL is focused on alternative education, the environment, and giving young people more authority in the area.
Wangchuk’s Jail Message
On Sunday, Wangchuk sent a message to the people of Ladakh through his lawyer, Haji Mustafa, and his older brother, Ka Tsetan Dorjey Ley. They met him at the Jodhpur jail.
Wangchuk told his followers that he is “doing well, both physically and mentally,” and he sent his condolences to the families of the people who died in the tragedy.
He asked the people of Ladakh to keep fighting for independence in the “true Gandhian way of non-violence” and called for an independent investigation into the murders that happened on September 24. He said he was “ready to stay in jail” until he was sure that such an investigation would happen.