The Supreme Court on Wednesday noted that the wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk wanted to made amendments in her plea, and hence adjourned to October 29 the hearing on her petition. Gitanjali J Angmo has challenged her husband’s detention under the National Security Act (NSA).
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, said they will file an application to amend the petition to challenge the grounds of detention. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria also noted that an affidavit has been filed by the jailor of Jodhpur jail that Wangchuk’s elder brother and lawyer met the detenue.
What happened in the SC today?
Sonam Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo said that in the previous hearing on October 6, she filed a plea seeking the grounds of the detention order, along with a request to inform the party of Sonam Wangchuk’s condition.
“We were allowed to meet Sonam, and on October 7th, I met him in Jodhpur. We were then given detention orders. I met him again on 11th October… In today’s hearing, the SC has passed two orders. One is to be given the challenges given by Sonam against the detention orders. Secondly, the application filed by us should be amended so that we can challenge the grounds of detention. The next hearing will be on 29th October,” she told the media.
#WATCH | Delhi | Activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali Angmo says, "Hearing for our first petition was done on 6 October, in which we had a plea to give us the grounds of the detention order and also inform us of the condition of Sonam Wangchuk. We were allowed to meet Sonam,… pic.twitter.com/b3aIYaKvUe
— ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2025
During the hearing, Sibal requested that Wangchuk be allowed to exchange some notes with his wife. To this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta responded he has no problem with the detainee sharing notes with his wife.
Sonam Wangchuk arrested, jailed in Jodhpur
Activist Sonam Wangchuk was arrested on September 26, two days after the deadly violence in Ladakh that killed four and injured over 90, with the top cop accusing him of making inflammatory remarks that allegedly led to the protests, arson and violence in the Union Territory. He was arrested under the stringent NSA and moved to Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.
In the last hearing, the top court had issued notices to the Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh, but refused to pass any order on his wife’s plea for providing her the grounds of detention. posted the matter for hearing on October 14.
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.