Centre says NSA affords it power to shift Wangchuk to Rajasthan; he was treated fairly

The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it drew authority to shift climate activist Sonam Wangchuk to Rajasthan from the provisions of the National Security Act, and has accorded “fair treatment” throughout his ongoing detention.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Justice Aravind Kumar, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to Section 5 of the National Security Act (NSA), 1980 which armed the “appropriate government” with the power to “regulate place and conditions of detention”.

Mr. Mehta said a detained person “may, by general or special order”, be removed from one place of detention to another place of detention, whether within the same State or in another State, by order of the appropriate government”.

“This would answer the questions raised by the petitioner why he (Wangchuk) was shifted to Rajasthan,” Mr. Mehta submitted.

The activist was detained under the NSA on September 26 last year, two days after violent protests demanding Statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union Territory. He was shifted to the Jodhpur Central Jail in Rajasthan.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Gitanjali Angmo against his detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA). The NSA empowers the Centre and States to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner “prejudicial to the defence of India”.

‘Material against him’

On Tuesday, the top law officer said there was material against Mr. Wangchuk, which justified the detention order. “The material was not irrelevant,” he said.

The Solicitor General said the judicial review into the sufficiency of this material was limited. “However, the statute itself provided extensive checks and balances. These procedural safeguards are meant to protect someone from arbitrary action at the behest of the Executive. The checks and balances were scrupulously adhered to in this case,” Mr. Mehta said.

Referring to the scheme of the NSA, Mr. Mehta said there was a categorical distinction between documents which were referred to by the authorities and those relied on by them to seek the detention of a person.

He said some of the documents would include intelligence inputs sourced from informers. They would be confidential and germane to national security, while the statute protects their divulgence, Mr. Mehta added.

“Are you saying that you have some inputs which you will not share with him (Wangchuk), and will be sharing with the court. Of course, you can claim privilege,” Justice Kumar asked the Solicitor General.

Mr. Mehta replied that he was only referring to the scheme of the Act without expanding any further on the point.