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‘He is fit, hale and hearty’: Sonam Wangchuk cannot be released on medical grounds, Centre tells SC
The Union government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that activist Sonam Wangchuk cannot be released from detention on medical grounds, saying that he is “fit, hale and hearty”, Live Law reported.
“He had some digestive issue and he is being treated for that,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court. “There is nothing to worry. Nothing alarming.”
A bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and PB Varale was hearing a petition filed by Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali Angmo challenging the activist's detention under the National Security Act.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26 and taken to a jail in Rajasthan's Jodhpur after protests in Leh demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. During the protests, demonstrators clashed with and threw stones at security personnel, injuring several of them. Four persons were killed in police firing.
During the hearing on February 4, the court had verbally asked the Union government to rethink Wangchuk's detention considering that his “health is not that good”.
On Wednesday, the Union government said that it cannot make exceptions based on health grounds, Bar and Bench reported.
“The grounds on which the detention order was passed, continues,” Mehta told the court. “It will not be possible to release him on health grounds. It may not be desirable also. We have given utmost consideration.”
Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj also told the court that Wangchuk was a chief provocateur in the violent protests, alleging that he instigated young persons by giving examples of Nepal and Arab Spring, PTI reported.
However, the court said that Wangchuk had instead expressed concerns about a violent protest, Bar and Bench reported.
“He is worried,” the legal news outlet quoted the bench as saying. “We will have to take the entire sentence…read it…‘some people are abandoning Gandhian peaceful ways. This is worrying'...the focus is departure from non-violent way, departure is something worrying.”
In response, Nataraj claimed that Wangchuk had used “hybrid expressions”, to which the court said that the Union government was reading “too much” into the words.
The court will continue hearing the matter on Thursday.
Including Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution would allow for the creation of autonomous development councils to govern land, public health and agriculture.
In August 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The lack of a legislature in Ladakh has led to increasing insecurities among the residents of the Union Territory about their land, nature, resources and livelihoods, and stoked fears that the region's cultural identity and fragile ecosystem may be in jeopardy.
Following Wangchuk's detention, key regional groups Apex Body Leh and Kargil Democratic Alliance withdrew from the talks with the government, stating that “talks cannot be held at gunpoint”.
Also read: Nine false claims about Sonam Wangchuk – and why they fall flat
Source: Scroll
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