The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre over the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act (NSA), asking why his wife, Gitanjali J Wangmo, was not informed of the reasons beforehand. The bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria issued notices to the Centre, Jammu & Kashmir, and Rajasthan. The case will be heard on October 14. Wangmo’s plea stated she has not been allowed to meet her husband since his September 26 detention following the recent Ladakh clashes.
00:00This is in connection with the matter of Sonam Vangchuk.
00:03No relief for the arrested activist Vangchuk.
00:06Apex Court tells the government why no notice on grounds of arrest.
00:11Issues a notice to this centre, to Jammu and Kashmir and to Rajasthan.
00:16With the Apex Court now stepping in, issuing a notice to these three states and also to this centre.
00:23We have these details.
00:25This over a haibis corpus filed by his wife.
00:28The court has asked the centre why no notice on grounds of arrest was given to the wife.
00:35Gitanjali Angamo tells the court not allowed to meet husband up until now.
00:40Court says we will not pass any orders to the hearings now on the next Tuesday.
00:47Anisha Mathur breaking this down for us.
00:50Anisha, the court now issuing a notice to Jammu and Kashmir, to Rajasthan and also to the centre.
00:56Talk to us about how these other states have become the stakeholders in this case, for example Rajasthan.
01:02And also talk to us a little about what has been said by the court.
01:06Well, Sneha, very clearly the court has first of all questioned why the grounds for arrest were not given to Sonam Vangchuk's family members, to his wife.
01:14Gitanjali Angamo, who was present in the courtroom, has told the court that she was not even allowed to meet her husband, despite having filed a representation.
01:22On the other hand, of course, the solicitor general for the central government informing the court that the grounds for detention under the law have to be given to the detainee.
01:31And Sonam Vangchuk, who is under detention, has been given the due notice and the grounds for arrest.
01:38And he said that we do not want to set a precedent which will create this ground for challenge in other cases, that family members have to be given the grounds for arrest.
01:47The law says that grounds of arrest have to be given to the detainee and that we have done so.
01:52As far as the meeting with the family members is concerned, the solicitor general said that under the jail rules, one person at a time is being allowed to meet Mr. Vangchuk and his wife can file a representation and then be allowed to meet.
02:05Remember, the habeas corpus petition that has been filed by Gitanjali Angamo very clearly says that the grounds for a detention were not given to her husband or to herself even seven days after his detention,
02:16that the detention itself is illegal and false allegations are being raised against her husband.
02:22Now, today, the Supreme Court clearly asking the center, the solicitor general to take a call on why notice of arrest or why notice of the grounds for detention cannot be given to the wife.
02:34They've asked this question, why can you not give it to the wife?
02:38What is wrong with serving that notice of grounds of detention to the wife herself?
02:42Because senior advocate Kapil Sibbal, who was appearing for Gitanjali Angamo, repeatedly argued that unless the grounds for arrest are communicated to the family,
02:50they will not be able to challenge the arrest, they will not be able to follow the legal procedure that is there.
02:56Because remember, under the NSA, once the grounds for arrest are given to the family members, to the detainee,
03:02they can then file a representation before the advisory board of the state challenging that particular detention.
03:09And Mr. Sibbal's argument was very clear on behalf of Gitanjali Angamo, that unless we know why he's being detained,
03:15unless we know the grounds for detention, we will not be able to challenge that detention.
03:19Now, the hearing, of course, will be next Tuesday.
03:22We'll have to see what happens in the interim period.
03:25All right, I'm going to leave it there for the moment.
03:27Getting in those details, Anisha Mathur telling us about the court, the Apex court.
03:31Now, coming in and asking the center to give an answer.
03:34So, the matter is going to be heard next Tuesday.
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