New Delhi, 19 February. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Thursday a petition filed by Gitanjali Angmo, wife of Ladakh social activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging her detention and demanding her release. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had questioned the Center regarding the accuracy of translated transcripts of speeches related to jailed Wangchuk. The court on Monday directed that the original pen drive given to Wangchuk at the time of his arrest in September 2025 be produced before the court by Thursday.
The direction came a day before the last day of hearing of the petition filed by Geetanjali, in which she has argued that her husband’s detention suffers from procedural lapses. They have argued that Wangchuk was not properly informed about the reasons for his arrest and that speeches he has given over the years have been misrepresented to suggest that he instigated the violence in September last year that led to four deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Justice Arvind Kumar and Justice P.B. Taking note of the ‘variations’ between the original speeches and the translated versions placed on record, Varale’s bench said, “There should be no variation in what is contained in the speech. The petitioner and the State may have different views on the interpretation, but we have to be unanimous on the text of the speech.” Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Wangchuk, said that some statements related to the activist were not in the tabular chart presented in the court by the authorities.
“This is a unique custody order. You are relying on something that doesn’t exist,” he argued. The bench replied, “We want the actual transcript of the speeches. We feel that what is there in your text and what the officials are mentioning is different.” The case was adjourned to Thursday to give Sibal time to complete his arguments.
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