New Delhi: Four days after the arrest of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, his wife Gitanjali Angmo has travelled from Ladakh to Delhi, saying she had “no other option but to come here and make her voice heard”.
“We were being monitored in Leh. I wasn’t allowed to speak to the media or clarify my side of the story,” she told ThePrint. At the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, founded by Wangchuk, CRPF personnel have been deployed, preventing outsiders from entering. “Even where I go is being monitored,” Gitanjali alleged.
She added, “It was like being under house arrest.”
She said she now plans to meet senior lawyers in Delhi to fight her husband’s case. But despite repeated requests, she has not been able to speak to him since his arrest. “All I know is that he is in Jodhpur Central Jail. Police had assured me I would be allowed to talk to him, but my calls to the concerned official have gone unanswered,” she said.
A practicing Hindu who is observing Navratri fasts, Gitanjali said she is deeply worried about her husband’s health. “Sonam was on a 15-day fast and was already weak. I just want to hear his voice once and know that he is fine,” she said.
Gitanjali said that the government is punishing Sonam for choosing India, “He could have gone to Silicon Valley or anywhere else” but chose instead to stay back in Ladakh. “His selflessness is established right there,” she said.
On Friday, Sonam Wangchuk was taken into preventive custody under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and shifted to Jodhpur jail. This was two days after a mob went on rampage in Leh, attacking government buildings and police and security personnel. Four civilians were killed in the police firing that followed. The mob comprised a section of protesters who had gathered at the NDS ground where Wangchuk had been sitting on a hunger strike since 10 September to demand statehood and Sixth Schedule protections for Ladakh.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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