You’re reading too much into it, SC tells Centre on Wangchuk’s speech

NEW DELHI: As the Centre justified on Wednesday the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk by pointing out his alleged inflammatory speeches and the use of Gandhian principles as a facade, Supreme Court said that it was reading too much into his statements.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the court that the govt won’t review Wangchuk’s detention order on medical grounds as he is “hale and hearty”. Mehta said that the activist was being taken care of in jail and had a minor infection. SC had last week asked the Centre to rethink his continued detention.




Wangchuk drew comparisons with Chinese, Pakistani provinces: Govt

Referring to one of the speeches, a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P B Varale said that the activist was himself worried about people resorting to violent protest and that any conclusion has to be drawn by reading the entire speech. Additional solicitor general K M Natraj contended that the speeches and statements were meant to incite people to resort to violent means of protest against govt and he invoked the name of Gandhi and his principles to shield himself.

The bench asked if it is objectionable if someone says that he is worried about people abandoning Gandhian principles and resorting to violence. As govt referred to his various speeches and interviews given in previous years, the bench asked it to refer to only those which led to the violence in Sept last year.

The ASG alleged that Sonam Wangchuk tried to internationalise the domestic issue of Ladakh, made statements about referendums and plebiscites, and drew comparisons of Ladakh with Chinese and Pakistani provinces. The apex court had earlier directed the authority to conduct a medical examination of Wangchuk by a specialised doctor and file the report before it. The activist is currently lodged in Jodhpur jail. The medical report was placed before the court at the last hearing.

Wangchuk was detained on Sept 26 by invoking the NSA against him following protests in Leh over demands of statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh.
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