SC questions Ladakh on procedural compliance in Wangchuk's detention
New Delhi, Feb. 13 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Ladakh administration on whether it fully complied with the procedure while detaining climate activist Sonam Wangchuk by enquiring whether he was shown the videos of which he is accused of instigating violence and if so, what was the endorsement to this effect.
It was Wanngchuk's case that during his arrest on September 26 last year he was not supplied the four crucial videos relied upon for passing the detention order against him under the National Security Act (NSA). He had claimed that much after the court began hearing the petition by his wife Gitanjali Angmo raising this issue, almost 28 days after his detention, he was provided these videos on October 23.
A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale said, "Is there anything to show that on September 26, the videos were shown to him."
Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj appearing for the Ladakh administration pointed out that the authorities have recorded a 40-minute video which records that he was shown the videos before being arrested. The court asked, "Where is the acknowledgment? The endorsement should contain that I have seen the videos. His endorsement refers to documents received on pendrive. There is no endorsement that he has seen the videos."
The queries posed by the court assume significance as Angmo has challenged her husband's detention alleging that the administration failed to follow the procedural safeguards and violated the law provided under NSA.
The lawyers appearing for Angmo led by senior advocate Vivek Tankha told the court that since his arrest, Wangchuk wrote several mails asking the authorities to supply him the four videos which formed the basis for the police and the district collector to conclude that his speeches instigated the violence in Ladakh which led to four deaths and injured hundreds of persons. It was only on October 23, ahead of the hearing before the Advisory Board - which later confirmed the detention order, he received the videos which he acknowledged.
Tankha pointed out that if he was shown the videos they should have responded to Wangchuk's emails denying that he was not shown or given the videos he asked for....
To read the full article or to get the complete feed from this publication, please
Contact Us.