00:00In a country built on Gandhian Satyagraha where even Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and their cohort
00:05famously went on a 100-day hunger strike in jail. Sonam Vangchuk's detention right now
00:11in the hospital is raising very serious questions about how fast as a protest
00:16is being seen by the Indian government today. And it's not just about Sonam Vangchuk.
00:25In India, protest is a legitimate form of expression covered under the fundamental freedom
00:33of expression. But Section 226 of the new BNS says that attempt to commit suicide to compel a public
00:43servant to do or not do an action is in fact an offense. Why is that significant today? Because
00:51that is the provision that the police has used for decades. The attempt to commit suicide as a
00:58penal provision on the IPC books is what allowed the police to detain Iram Sharmila for years,
01:04for decades. Now, while there is no formal news regarding a detention or FIR or arrest of Sonam
01:12Vangchuk or the fellow protesters, he has in fact been taken to the hospital. Funny enough,
01:18his wife Gitanjali Angmo has used 226 of the constitution to move a petition before the high
01:25court that he should be allowed to leave and go wherever he wants to. But really the question is
01:31about how the law looks at the right to protest and how the law looks at fasting as a form
01:40of protest in
01:41India. Under the old IPC, attempt to commit suicide was a criminal offense and that is why anybody who was
01:47fasting unto death was threatened to self-immolate as a form of protest could be arrested. The Delhi High
01:53Court just a few days ago said all life is precious and therefore all action should be undertaken to
02:00ensure that Sonam Vangchuk remains healthy and does not lose his life. In fact, the hospital bulletin says
02:06that he is stable and coherent. So the question really comes in, how does Indian law, how does Indian
02:12police and how does the Indian government look at protest against itself and how does it deal with
02:19those who are ready to go on an indefinite hunger strike to put their point across. India is a country
02:27country where people sit on hartals and dharanas all the time to register their protest against whatever
02:34it is that they believe is wrong. But now the real question is, when the government says we are doing
02:41something or we are detaining somebody to preserve their life, how really is our law looking at protest as
02:48a fundamental right.
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