Sonam Wangchuk case LIVE: Supreme Court to hear wife Gitanjali Angmo’s plea

Tensions in Leh boiled over on September 24 as youth-led protests over statehood and constitutional protections spiralled into clashes with security forces. At least four people were killed and dozens injured, prompting the imposition of curfews and prohibitory orders across Leh and parts of Kargil. The unrest has thrust demands for deep structural change in Ladakh into the national spotlight.

The Ladakh administration on Tuesday (September 30, 2025) accused climate activist Sonam Wangchuk of suggesting “self-immolation” to the people of Ladakh on “multiple occasions” on “lines of protests in Tibet.”

In a statement issued late on Tuesday (September 30, 2025), the Union Territory administration said the “grounds of detention etc.,” had been duly served on Mr. Wangchuk, presently detained under the National Security Act (NSA) at the Jodhpur Central jail in Rajasthan.

On September 26, prominent educationist and climate activist of Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk, was detained under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980 for disrupting public order. Mr. Wangchuk was on the fifteenth day of a 35-day hunger strike when violent protests erupted in Leh city which led to the death of four people and injuries to around 150 people, including security personnel.

On October 2, Gitanjali J. Angmo, wife of the 59-year-old engineer-turned-teacher-turned-climate-activist Sonam Wangchuk, moved the Supreme Court seeking to know the whereabouts of her husband. Days ago, on September 26, Mr. Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, from his village Uleytokpo by the Ladakh police and sent to the Jodhpur central jail.

The education reformer, who inspired the Hindi movie 3 Idiots (2009), has been labelled by the police as the “ring-leader” of the September 24 violence in Leh city that led to the death of four persons and resulted in injuries to around 150 people.

Detained engineer-turned-activist Sonam Wangchuk has appealed for an independent judicial inquiry into the killing of four civilians in the September 24 protests, according to a letter released from the Jodhpur jail on Sunday (October 5, 2025). 

“My heartfelt condolences to the families of those people who lost their lives and my prayers with people who are injured and are arrested. There should be an independent judicial Inquiry into the killing of our four people and, unless that is done, I am prepared to stay in jail,” Mr. Wangchuk said, in the purported letter from the jail.