At 10:37 pm on September 30, climate activist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk wrote on his X account: “I am being detained.” The 58-year-old had been leading a month-long 'Delhi Chalo Padyatra' from Leh to make a case for the Union Territory of Ladakh to be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, giving it more autonomy.
Wangchuk added that many people who were detained along with him were elderly and several were former Army officers as well. Delhi Police detained him and 35 other men in Bawana police station, while over 100 people were shuttled in two buses and detained across various locations in the Rohini district area.
Speaking from the Bawana police station over phone, 22-year-old Mohamed Raihan, who started walking with Wangchuk from Leh on September 1, said, “Actually we are not alright right now because since we have come here [Bawana PS], we have not been given anything to eat since last night. We came in peaceful protest, and if despite that we are being treated like criminals, we can only think of going on a hunger strike in protest.”
Raihan added that none of the 30-35 men in the station had seen Wangchuk since the previous night. “I don’t know where Sonamji is. They took them last night to a separate place and we haven’t seen him since.” The 22-year-old climate activist said the men had been made to sit in the station courtyard since the night.
Chief Minister of New Delhi Atishi Singh visited PS Bawana at 1:30pm on October 1. However, the CM left the station within 30 minutes after not being allowed to meet Wangchuk.
Speaking to the media, Singh said, “I came here to meet Sonam Wangchuk… he was coming to Delhi from Ladakh with 150 people to raise their voice. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government arrested him from the Delhi border. The people of Ladakh want democratic rights. They don’t want L-G leadership.”
Singh added that, “Today the central government of the Bharatiya Janata Party leaves no stone unturned in killing democracy, snatching the right to vote. Why the arrest? Why not let me meet them? Because the Bharatiya Janata Party is afraid of democracy and today I am saying with confidence that if such dictatorship of the Bharatiya Janata Party continues, the LG rule will end in Ladakh, the LG rule will end in Delhi and the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party will end in the central government here as well.”
As Wangchuk’s detention hit the news, there has been widespread political and social backlash to the police action. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called the move “unacceptable.”
The police station at Bawana is currently a fortress with over 50 police personal—both men and women—stationed at the gates, some of them in riot gear.
Outside Bawana police station, well-wishers and followers of Wangchuk mill, demanding to know why he had been detained. Satish Nambardar, an official with the Bharitiya Kisan Union, said he had come down answering a call from the National Kisan Union to support Wangchuk. “We all saw what the BJP did with us farmers, and we cannot let that happen to another. The farmers of India are behind Mr Wangchuk— we will come down again in tractors if we have to,” he said.
While police divided about 150 detainees across locations in the Bawana industrial area, Outlook tracked down several who were kept inside the Arya Samaj Mandir in Narelal, and also witnessed medical professionals entering the building. However, police refused to comment. At the time of writing this story, there had been no application for judicial remand of Wangchuk or the others filed by Delhi police in requisite district and sessions court in Rohini, court sources said.
A public interest litigation was filed before the Delhi High Court on October 1, questioning the detention of Wangchuk, with no charges against him, for almost 24 hours. A bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela refused an urgent hearing, and fixed the next date of hearing as October 3.
Meanwhile, outraged by Wangchuk’s arrest, 100s of people have taken to the streets of Leh chanting “Delhi Police, shame shame”.
Wangchuk's march was organised by the Leh Apex Body (LAB), which along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) has been demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, early recruitment process along with a public service commission for Ladakh, and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.
