SC questions Centre about accuracy of video transcripts relied on to detain Sonam Wangchuk

The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Union government about the accuracy of transcripts of videos relied upon to detain Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale was hearing a petition filed by Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, challenging the activist’s detention.

Wangchuk was detained on September 26 and taken to a jail in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur after protests in Leh demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. During the protests, demonstrators clashed with and threw stones at security personnel, injuring several of them. Four persons were killed in police firing.

The Union government has alleged that Wangchuk was the “chief provocateur” of the September 24 violence and that the protests in Leh came under control after the activist was taken into custody.

On Monday, the bench said it wanted the transcripts of Wangchuk’s statements after advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, submitted that several words attributed to the activist were never spoken by him.

“The tabular list you [the Union government] have filed, some of these things don’t even find a place in the detention order,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying. “There should be at least the correct transcript of what he [Wangchuk] says.”

The bench added: “There should not...

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