Sonam Wanchuk protest: Delhi HC seeks police’s stand on denying Jantar Mantar

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 9 October, sought the stand of the Delhi Police on a plea for permission to be given to climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and others to hold a protest at the city's Jantar Mantar venue.

A bench of justices Prathiba M. Singh and Amit Sharma issued notice to the police and the Delhi government on the plea filed by the Apex Body Leh and sought their responses.

"Let response to the petition be filed," said the bench and posted the hearing on 22 October.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Delhi Police, said there was no urgency in the matter and sought time to file a reply.

The petition was listed for hearing after the petitioner's counsel mentioned it for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan.

The plea stated that Delhi Police had failed to provide any valid ground for denying the request for staging of the protest.

Wangchuk and his associates from Ladakh, who were detained at the Delhi border by the police on 30 September, marched to the national capital to demand inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

They were, however, released later.

The march was organised by the Apex Body Leh, which along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), has been spearheading an agitation for the past four years to demand statehood for Ladakh, its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule, early recruitment process along with a public service commission for Ladakh and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.

The Sixth Schedule pertains to the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram as "autonomous districts and autonomous regions".

In its plea, the petitioner said it had initiated the peaceful protest march from Leh, Ladakh to Delhi but on October 5, the city police "arbitrarily" rejected its request to hold a peaceful demonstration at Jantar Mantar.

The refusal, the plea said, infringed upon the petitioner's fundamental rights to speech and peaceful assembly.

"The petitioner organisation intends to hold an awareness campaign and peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar or any other suitable location in Delhi from October 8 to 23," the plea informed.