- By Nidhi Giri
- Tue, 17 Feb 2026 10:51 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Supreme Court came down heavily on the Centre after it noted that the transcription of activist Sonam Wangchuk's 3-minute speech runs for 7-8 minutes. It was on this speech that he was arrested in September last year. The bench, consisting of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice PB Varale made the observation while hearing arguments on a petition filed by Gitanjali Angmo, Wangchuk's wife.
"'Self-immolation of Ladakhis' - this is not there. 'Overthrow the government' - not there. This is not something that is a surprise to them. I had stated all this earlier. They never responded," Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Angmo, showed the transcripts to the apex court on Monday, as quoted by an NDTV report.
The top court then questioned Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj. The apex court said, "Mr Nataraj, we need the actual transcripts of these speeches. This is the basis on which the detention order is passed."
"The tabular list you have filed, some of these things don't even find a place in the detention order. There should be at least the correct transcript of what he (Wangchuk) says. There should not be a variance. If the speech is of 3 minutes and your transcription goes on for 7-8 minutes, there is certainly malice in that," the bench remarked.
To this, KM Nataraj stated that "we are not experts", adding that the transcripts were prepared by a department. In response, the court said, "We are in the era of AI. Precision should be 98 per cent."
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"They relied on something that doesn't exist and then they say it is subjective satisfaction? Subjective satisfaction of something that doesn't exist? Nowhere have I said you come up like GenZ etc, and all this is given by the Solicitor General,” Sibal claimed, as per NDTV.
"He (Wangchuk) says there was a promise made to us in the manifesto (of Statehood). And that has not been granted. And now five years have passed. We must do something about it. And what he does is anshan (strike). Since 2022, has any speech of his incited any violence? We are not even dealing with a case where there is instigation to commit violence or public disorder," he said.
The popular environment activist was detained by authorities under the National Security Act (NSA) in connection with the violent protests in Leh last year, in which four people were killed, and more than 150 were injured.