NEW DELHI, Feb 23:
The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to February 26 the hearing on a plea filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, against the latter’s detention under the National Security Act.
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A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P B Varale deferred the matter as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was not available.
Earlier, the top court had asked the Centre if there was any possibility for the Government to relook at the detention of Wangchuk, considering his health condition.
Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj had submitted that Wangchuk was responsible for violence in Leh on September 24 last year, in which four people died, and 161 were injured.
The Centre and the Ladakh administration had told the apex court that Wangchuk was detained for instigating people in a border area where regional sensitivity was involved.
Justifying Wangchuk’s detention, Mehta had told the bench that all procedural safeguards were followed while ordering his detention under the National Security Act (NSA).
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.
The Centre had said that Wangchuk tried to instigate the Gen Z for protests similar to Nepal and Bangladesh.
Mehta had said that Wangchuk even referred to an Arab Spring-like agitation, which led to the overthrow of multiple Governments in countries in the Arab world. (PTI)
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