Judicial panel to begin inquiry into Leh violence from October 25

The judicial commission constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will start inquiring into the circumstances that resulted in violence and the deaths of four civilians during street protests on September 24 in Ladakh’s Leh district.

An official said Justice B.S. Chauhan, heading the judicial commission, will start meeting people from October 25 in Leh. The probe panel will begin hearings at Melongthang, Leh, from October 25 up to 28.

According to a notification by the Department of Law and Justice, Leh, the Commission will be “conducting judicial inquiry regarding the September 24 incident created in Leh town”.

The department urged interested and aggrieved persons “to record their testimony before the members of the judicial inquiry.”

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Leh, has been directed “to monitor all the security measures to be taken concerning the Inquiry Proceedings scheduled to be held from October 25 and provide appropriate security at the location”.

Four civilians were killed and around 90 were injured during the protests on September 24, fuelling tension and anger in the region. It was followed by the arrest of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk on September 26 and the imposition of several spells of curfew and internet outage. However, the Ladakh administration claims that the situation has normalised now.

The civilian deaths resulted in two Ladakh-based bodies, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), withdrawing from talks with the Centre. A judicial inquiry was among their key demands to resume the dialogue. On October 22, the Centre and Ladakh groups resumed talks following the announcement of the judicial commission by the MHA.

The LAB and the KDA are engaged in discussions with the Centre over the demands of Statehood and Ladakh’s inclusion in the Sixth Schedule. Ladakh was carved out as a Union Territory from the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.