Overview
- After reviewing a specialist’s report that said Wangchuk’s health is not good, the court asked if the government could reconsider continuing his preventive detention.
- The matter was adjourned to February 9, with the Centre set to take instructions and place the original records, including the Leh SSP’s recommendation, before the bench.
- Justices Aravind Kumar and P. B. Varale indicated that if the initial detention order is legally deficient, later approvals and the Advisory Board’s confirmation would not survive.
- The Union government defends the NSA action as preventive and says all safeguards were followed, alleging Wangchuk’s September 24 speech led to violence that left four dead and 161 injured in Leh.
- Wangchuk’s wife, Dr. Gitanjali J. Angmo, has filed a habeas corpus plea claiming the detention is arbitrary, relies on borrowed and selectively edited material, and lacks independent application of mind.