Supreme Court adjourns hearing on plea against Sonam Wangchuk’s detention under NSA

New Delhi, Oct 14: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to Wednesday the hearing of a petition filed by Gitanjali J. Angmo, wife of noted climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) and seeking his immediate release.

A bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria deferred the hearing, citing a lack of time, and posted the matter for consideration on October 15, 2025.

The court had earlier, on October 6, issued notices to the Union Government and the Union Territory of Ladakh administration over the plea but declined to direct the authorities to furnish the grounds of detention at that stage. The matter was subsequently listed for October 14.

Wangchuk, a globally recognized environmentalist and Ramon Magsaysay Award nominee, was detained on September 26 under the stringent NSA, two days after large-scale protests in Ladakh demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status turned violent, leaving four people dead and at least 90 injured.

Authorities have accused Wangchuk of instigating the unrest and spreading inflammatory material during the demonstrations. However, his wife has strongly refuted the charges, calling his detention “a blatant misuse of preventive law against a peaceful campaigner.”

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the matter for detailed hearing on Wednesday, where the government is likely to present its justification for invoking the NSA against the activist. [KNT]