Sonam Wangchuk’s wife told the Supreme Court that she was accompanied by security personnel, her meetings supervised, not allowed to meet anyone in Jodhpur and was ‘taken’ to the railway station, ‘constantly’ surveilled in Delhi, among other infringements of her ‘fundamental rights as a free citizen of India’
A complaint by Gitanjali Angmo, the wife of detained activist Sonam Wangchuk, in the Supreme Court, that the state and its agencies watch her every step, intervene, and even whisk her away in vehicles with curtains drawn over windows, raises the question of whether the personal freedom and right to free movement of a family member of a person restrained under the National Security Act is also forfeit.
Mr. Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980 following violent protests on September 24 in Leh. He has been shifted to the Jodhpur Central Jail. Ms. Angmo related to the apex court how Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers and the Rajasthan Police intercepted her the moment she landed and came out of the airport on the two occasions she visited Mr. Wangchuk at the Jodhpur Central Jail, on October 7 and October 11.
She said, in an affidavit, the conduct of the agencies during both visits affected “my personal freedom and fundamental rights as a free citizen of India”.
“As soon as I landed and came out of the airport, the officers of the IB and the Rajasthan Police came to me right outside the airport, and asked me to sit in their car with white curtains drawn on the windows blocking the view, and they took me to the jail for the meeting. The officers took me to the office of the Jail Superintendent and were with me for the entire period. Before every visit, they would ask me the details of my journey and the time I would be in Jodhpur,” she narrated to the court.
Two officers would sit “within earshot” during her entire meeting with Mr. Wangchuk, she said. Her notes containing his instructions for legal assistance were photographed…..
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Day 18 of Climate fast / Sonam Wangchuk on YouTube / Assam in solidarity with Ladakh
