New Delhi [India], September 30 : Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday condemned the arrest of Sonam Wangchuk, and claimed that the Centre realises the detention of the climate activist under the National Security Act (NSA) has been 'counter-productive'.
"They also know that this arrest (of Sonam Wangchuk) is counter-productive, for the BJP and Centre. Nationally, internationally, the image of the government and the BJP has been damaged a lot," the senior lawyer said in a press conference in Delhi.
He further said that he expects the government to release a detention order for 15 days at first, which will then be subsequently extended.
"We expect that they will do the same thing they did in other cases too. The first order will be of 15 days. That is how they work, they did multiple extensions with Chandrashekhar Azad (Nagina MP). Lets see what they do," he mentioned
"The officials are supposed to give a copy of the NSA order within 5 days, which has not been given to either the climate activist or his wife, Gitanjali Wangchuk, despite certain senior police officials giving assurances," said the advocate.
Bhushan further criticised the Home Ministry revoking the FCRA (Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act) licence of Wangchuk's NGO, Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), terming it as "illegal".
"That is totally illegal, even the cancellation of FCRA. Mr Wangchuk had responded the FCRA notice, had responded to threat of taking over land, if you read his responses you will see that there is absolutely no ground for either taking back that land, closure of the institute, CBI investigation etc, these are all totally malafide actions being undertaken by the government, only to get somehow him embroiled in all this sohe cannot lead this movement and to defame him," he said.
On challenging the NSA order, Bhushan said that it is "certainly a serious case" in which the Supreme Court should take suo-motu cognisance, but mentioned that it rarely ever happens involving an individual person, claiming that the court instead waits for the affected party to approach for relief.
"The Supreme Court very rarely takes suo-motu cognisance of anything. But yes it is a very serious case, and this is certainly a case of taking suo-motu cognisance. But especially if it is involving one particular person, then the Supreme Court rarely takes any suo-motu action, because they feel that if that person themselves wants, why should we on our own do this," he said.
Earlier, the wife of the climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, Gitanjali J Angmo, refuted the Ladakh Police's claims that the activist was in touch with a Pakistani Intelligence Operative.
She said, "This is absolutely wrong and false, we condemn it to the core. A narrative is being formed to frame someone...When the UT government was buying Chinese tablets, he (Wangchuk) was talking about tackling China not with bullets but with a wallet. How can such a person be anti-national?"
Sonam Wangchuk was arrested under the National Security Act on September 26 and shifted to Jodhpur jail shortly after.
The arrest happened following violence in Leh during protests, which claimed the lives of atleast four people. The restrictions under section 163 of BNSS, which were imposed in the region, were eased for three hours today, allowing people to buy essential items. The protesters have been demanding inclusion of the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.