Sonam Wangchuk, the engineer whose innovative spirit inspired a blockbuster film and earned him the Ramon Magsaysay award, has been detained under the draconian National Security Act, 1980, (NSA). He was not apprehended near a volatile border but was taken from his homeland in Leh and shifted thousands of kilometres away to a jail in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. This drastic action followed a violent turn on September 24 in the largely peaceful movement for Ladakh’s statehood and constitutional protection, a movement he has come to symbolise.
The Central government’s narrative is clear that Wangchuk is an instigator with foreign links. But for the people of Ladakh and civil rights advocates across India, his jailing represents something far more ominous—the caging of a democratic voice and the criminalisation of dissent in one of the nation’s most strategically sensitive regions.
The day the protest burned
September 24, 2025, will be remembered as the day Ladakh’s peaceful struggle took a tragic and violent turn. For weeks, Sonam Wangchuk had been on a hunger strike, a Gandhian protest to draw attention to the long-standing demands for statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution—a provision to protect the tribal region’s unique culture, land, and employment.
A protest, largely led by the region’s youth and organised in solidarity with his fast, escalated into chaos. Mobs reportedly vandalised property and set government vehicles and the local BJP office ablaze. In the ensuing clashes, security forces responded with tear gas and, eventually, live fire. The aftermath was unfortunate as four individuals lost their lives, and over 80 were injured.
The central government and the local administration were quick to lay the blame. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) claimed the “mob was incited by Sonam Wangchuk through his provocative statements.”
The ministry alleged that Wangchuk’s references to global movements like the ‘Arab Spring’ and Nepal’s ‘Gen Z protests’ were deliberately inflammatory. “It is clear that the mob was incited by Sonam Wangchuk through his provocative statements. Incidentally, amidst these violent developments, he broke his fast and left for his village in an ambulance without making serious efforts to control the situation,” the MHA claimed in a statement.
However, Ladakhi leadership vehemently refutes this narrative. Chering Dorjey Lakrook, the Co-Chairman of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), stated unequivocally, “Sonam Wangchuk or Congress didn’t provoke anyone, what happened was a protest in support of the genuine demands of the youth.” The sentiment on the ground was that the violence was a spontaneous eruption of frustration, not a pre-meditated act of sedition orchestrated by the activist.
A web of allegations and the stringent use of NSA
Two days after the violence, the state machinery moved decisively. Wangchuk was detained near his residence under the National Security Act, 1980, a law that permits detention for up to 12 months without trial. The rationale for his subsequent transfer to Jodhpur Central Jail was that keeping him in Leh was “not advisable in the larger public interest.”
Leh under curfew for fourth consecutive day- Sonam Wangchuk shited to Jodhpur jail | JK News Today pic.twitter.com/rgtwatOEuc
— JK News Today (@jknewstoday) September 27, 2025
The Ladakh administration defended the move, stating it had “taken a considered decision based on specific inputs.” It alleged that “time and again it was observed that Sonam Wangchuk has been indulging in activities prejudicial to the security of the State and detrimental to maintenance of peace and public order.”
The narrative was further solidified in a press conference by Ladakh’s Director General of Police, S D Singh Jamwal. The allegations he levelled were stunning, painting Wangchuk not as a local hero but as a pawn with sinister connections. “What has been found in the investigation (against Wangchuk) cannot be disclosed at this moment,” the DGP began, before weaving a narrative of suspicion. “His speech worked as an instigation as he talked about the Arab spring and the recent unrest in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. He had his own agenda.”
Jamwal claimed Wangchuk was being probed for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) and, most startlingly, for having links to Pakistan. “We have a PIO (Pakistani Intelligence Operative) with us who was reporting across the border, sending videos of the protests led by Wangchuk,” he alleged, also citing Wangchuk’s past visit to Pakistan for a media event and a trip to Bangladesh as suspicious activities.
🇮🇳EXPLOSIVE REVELATION BY LADAKH DGP DR. S.D SINGH JAMWAL:
“We recently arrested a Pakistan Intelligence Operative who was in touch with Sonam Wangchuk and reporting back across. We have a record of this.
He had attended a Dawn event in Pakistan. He also visited Bangladesh.… pic.twitter.com/j7S7YFgdJx
— Abhimanyu Manjhi (@AbhimanyuManjh5) September 27, 2025
Wangchuk’s wife condemned DGP Ladakh’s statements
The administration’s portrayal of Wangchuk was met with disbelief and outrage, not least from his own family. Director of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL) and wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, has strongly refuted the BJP-led government’s allegations following his detention under the National Security Act. His wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, issued a powerful rebuttal, calling the DGP’s claims a fabrication designed to create a scapegoat.
“We strongly condemn the DGP’s statements. Not only I, but everyone in Ladakh denounces those allegations,” she said.
“This narrative is being fabricated to blame and frame someone, allowing them to do whatever they want… What could Sonam Wangchuk have instigated? He had no idea about all this. He was somewhere else, where he was on a hunger strike… Whatever the DGP is saying, he has an agenda. They don’t want to implement the 6th Schedule under any circumstances and want to make someone a scapegoat.”
Her anguish was coupled with a piercing question that hangs over the events of September 24 that “Who gave the CRPF orders to open fire? Who shoots at their own people, their own citizens?”
Ladakh: On Police’s allegations against Sonam Wangchuk, his wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, says, “We strongly condemn the DGP’s statements. Not only I, but everyone in Ladakh denounces those allegations… This narrative is being fabricated to blame and frame someone, allowing them to… pic.twitter.com/m1o0Ejhl4A
— JK CHANNEL (@jkchanneltv) September 30, 2025
If innovators are treated like criminals, how will India become vishwaguru: Sonam Wangchuk’s wife
Gitanjali Angmo speaking at the Press Club of India on September 30, she declared, “We will use the best legal system to defend him and fight the case. We will not rest till the case is fought and truth has been revealed.” Angmo questioned the government’s sudden shift in stance, pointing out, “HIAL was also given the best eco-project by this government. If he (Sonam) was anti-national, why was the government awarding his efforts? Why did Sonam become an anti-national within a month? This is all being done to frame him.”
She cited Wangchuk’s internationally recognised environmental work. She said “The whole world talks about carbon neutral but Ladakh is carbon negative. People talk about net zero but we are net-positive. If we treat the person behind this good work like a criminal and create an atmosphere of fear with curfew, then how will India become ‘Vishwa Guru’ and how will others get motivated?”
Rejecting allegations of financial irregularities and foreign links, she challenged officials to prove their claims that “I openly challenge anyone who sees any problem in our work. We have facts, evidence and papers which will prove that all these allegations are wrong.”
Addressing FCRA concerns, she clarified that “Our futuristic research has been bought by foreign universities and there is nothing in it to be ashamed of. These (payments) are all covered under service agreements and even the CBI has accepted that there’s been no violation. Rather, it is a matter of pride that the research of an Indian university is being valued and appreciated outside.”
She highlighted HIAL’s local impact, saying, “Our research has been adopted by the UT government. Since last year, the ice stupa has been tendered and implemented across the region. Similarly, the new tourism policy has made passive solar heating mandatory for new hotels and commercial buildings.”
On allegations of Pakistan links, Angmo said Wangchuk had attended a UN-backed climate event in Islamabad and asked, “I want to ask: what is wrong with it? The Hindukush mountains touch eight countries and provide water to more than two billion people. My husband praised the prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mission LIFE’ from the stage.”
She also questioned the home ministry’s claims that “If a Pakistani was seen in Ladakh, why was the safety protocol violated and why was he allowed to roam freely?”
Refuting charges over ‘food sovereignty’ research, she stated that “Food sovereignty which talks about how locals can become self-sufficient has been interpreted as national security to punish my husband. The allegation is baseless and ridiculous.”
Responding to criticism around Wangchuk’s Magsaysay Award, she asked “Out of these 60, 20 have been given Padma Vibushan award. Does that mean that the government gives awards to anti-nationals?”
Finally, addressing the September 24 violence in Leh, where four civilians were killed, she distanced her husband from the events: “Sonam was sitting in the park and he had no idea. My husband stood for Gandhian values. He didn’t indulge in violence or instigation for the last five years. If violence has happened now, he doesn’t have to answer for it. It is the UT administration – the LG and the DGP who have to answer to the people of Ladakh why there was a breach and violence.”
‘If Innovators Are Treated Like Criminals, How Will India Become Vishwaguru?’: Sonam Wangchuk’s Wife Fires Back At Govt https://t.co/7aA4i2IP4y
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) September 30, 2025
Not political, but procedural: Ladakh UT defends action against Wangchuk
In a formal press statement, the Union Territory of Ladakh administration has defended its recent actions against climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and institutions linked to him, including the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL) and SECMOL. Officials claimed the crackdown was not politically motivated, but rooted in allegations of “financial irregularities, violations of foreign funding norms, and issuance of unrecognised degrees.”
The administration also accused Wangchuk of making “provocative statements,” allegedly invoking foreign uprisings and calling for an “Arab Spring”-like movement in India.
It further alleged that he encouraged protesters to wear masks and caps to conceal identities and did not attempt to calm an increasingly agitated crowd during recent demonstrations. The government maintained that it had shown flexibility in scheduling dialogue with Ladakhi leaders, while Wangchuk’s continued hunger strike was dismissed as “politically motivated.” Urging the public to remain patient, the administration expressed confidence in the legal process and stated that normalcy would soon be restored in the region.
LAB & KDA will not talks with the centre until Wangchuk’s release
The region’s political leadership closed ranks. Both the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), the two umbrella organisations leading the movement, announced they would not participate in any further talks with the central government until Wangchuk is released and a judicial probe is ordered into the police firing. The LAB explicitly criticised the attempt to label Wangchuk as an “anti-national.”
Acclaimed actor Prakash Raj, who knows Wangchuk personally, took to social media to express his solidarity. “You can cage a bird, but not it’s song,” he wrote. “You can arrest Sonam Wangchuk but you can’t silence the truth he stands for. I know this man. I know what he stands for.”
“You can cage a bird, but not it’s song.”
You can arrest @Wangchuk66 but you can’t silence the truth he stands for. I know this man. I know what he stands for. #LadakhProtests #LadakhStatehood #SonamWangchuk #justasking pic.twitter.com/5PdKdpBlW9— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) September 26, 2025
The situation also brought forth historical parallels. A social media post highlighted that Wangchuk’s own father, Sonam Wangyal, had undertaken hunger strikes in the 1980s for Ladakh’s Scheduled Tribe status. In 1984, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi flew to Leh to personally end his fast with a glass of juice and a promise to grant the demand, a stark contrast to the current government’s response.
Sonam Wangchuk’s father Sonam Wangyal went on a hunger strike twice to express Ladakhis demand for Scheduled tribe Status. In 1984 PM Indra Gandhi came to Leh & ended his fast by offering a glass of Juice & promised to grant ST Ladakh. pic.twitter.com/F9nan4Rqoq
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 26, 2025
SECMOL: under the surveillance of MHA
The crackdown wasn’t limited to Wangchuk’s personal freedom. A day after the violence, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled the FCRA registration of the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), the pioneering NGO Wangchuk founded in 1988.
The MHA cited a series of financial and procedural violations. These included discrepancies in the reporting of a transaction involving the sale of an old bus, and the accidental deposit of local funds into the FCRA account. However, the most politically charged accusation related to a grant of Rs. 4.93 lakh from a Swedish donor. The MHA flagged that the educational program funded by this grant included discussions on topics like climate change, food security, and “sovereignty.”
MHA cancels the FCRA license of Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s NGO. pic.twitter.com/OKK6NlShlo
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 25, 2025
While SECMOL maintained the funds were used for purely educational purposes within its charter, the MHA interpreted the mere mention of “sovereignty” as a violation of national interest, declaring that foreign funds cannot be used for such studies. This move was widely seen as an attempt to financially cripple the intellectual and institutional backbone of the Ladakhi movement.
The man and his movement: a legacy of innovation
To understand the gravity of the “anti-national” charge, one must understand who Sonam Wangchuk is. Long before he became the face of a civil rights movement, he was a celebrated education reformer. SECMOL, founded by him and other young Ladakhis, aimed to overhaul an education system that was failing the region’s children.
The SECMOL Alternative School is a marvel of sustainable architecture—a solar-powered, self-sufficient eco-village where students learn practical, environmental, and traditional knowledge alongside modern academics. His invention of the “ice stupa,” a method of creating artificial glaciers to combat water shortages in the high desert, is a globally recognised innovation in climate adaptation.
He is not a activist but an innovator driven by a deep love for his land and its people. His advocacy for the Sixth Schedule stems from a desire to protect Ladakh’s fragile ecology and unique indigenous culture from the pressures of unchecked development and outside influence. To paint such a figure as a foreign-funded agent provocateur is, for many, a profound distortion.
A law for ‘limitless detention’: the dark history of the NSA
The choice to detain Wangchuk under the National Security Act is profoundly telling. The NSA is not a punitive law; it is, by design, a preventive one. But in practice, preventive detention becomes punishment—limitless incarceration justified under the vague pretext of maintaining law and order, with blurred boundaries and little accountability. It allows the state to detain individuals not for a crime they have committed, but for one they might commit. Its history is rooted in the colonial-era laws designed to suppress the freedom struggle.
When the Indira Gandhi government introduced the National Security Act (NSA) in 1980, it was met with fierce resistance. BJP’s own senior leader, Lal Krishna Advani (then a Janata Party leader in the Rajya Sabha) criticised the bill for its political motives and dangerously vague language, cautioning that it could be used to detain anyone involved in political agitation. He spoke from experience, sharing his own re-arrest moments after being released during the Emergency, and condemned the NSA as a tool for “limitless detention.”
He said, “It is also said in the Statement of Objects and Reasons that if anyone agitates, any political agitation takes place, then they can also be arrested.” (Page 200-201 of the RS Debate in Re. National Security [RAJYA SABHA] Ordinance & Bill, 1980)
Four decades later, the same law is being wielded with impunity by a BJP-led government—ironically, the very party Advani helped shape. What was once denounced as a mechanism of authoritarian excess is now normalised, repurposed to stifle dissent, muzzle opposition, and criminalise protest. The warnings voiced in 1980 haven’t just been forgotten—they’ve been reversed.
Over the decades, the law has been repeatedly used against political opponents, activists, and protesters. The Supreme Court has, in several cases, flagged its misuse. In the case of Dr. Kafeel Khan, the Allahabad High Court quashed his NSA detention, noting that his speech gave a “call for national integrity and unity” and that the District Magistrate had engaged in a “selective reading.”
In another case, the Supreme Court ordered the release of a law student, observing that the grounds for his detention were issues of “law and order,” not the graver “public order” required to invoke the NSA.
By invoking this law against Sonam Wangchuk, the government has placed him in the company of those who have been targeted for their political beliefs, bypassing the standard criminal justice system and its safeguards.
The caged song
The detention of Sonam Wangchuk is more than just the arrest of one man. It is a message sent to the people of Ladakh that their democratic aspirations will be met with the full force of the state’s security apparatus. In a region that borders both China and Pakistan, the charge of having “Pakistan links” is the most potent weapon to delegitimise a grassroots movement.
The fundamental questions remain unanswered. What caused a peaceful movement to turn violent? Was the use of lethal force against protesters justified? And can a law designed to protect national security be used to silence a celebrated activist demanding constitutional rights for his people?
Sonam Wangchuk may be in a Jodhpur jail, far from the mountains he has spent his life trying to protect. But as Prakash Raj noted, you can cage the bird, but you cannot cage its song. The song of Ladakh is one of identity, survival, and a deep yearning for a secure future. The question now is whether the Indian state is willing to listen, or if it will only seek to silence the singer.
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