SC adjourns plea challenging Wangchuk's detention

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned to March 10 the hearing on a plea filed by Gitanjali J Angmo, the wife of jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA). A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and P B Varale said it will go through the videos of Wangchuk's speeches given to it during the Holi vacation.

"We wanted to see those pen drives. We have asked the Registrar IT to make arrangements during vacations," the bench observed. The top court clarified that it will finish hearing the plea on March 10 and reserve its order. The apex court on February 23 adjourned the matter for hearing today as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was not available.

As the matter came up for hearing, a lawyer appearing for the Centre sought an adjournment on the ground that Mehta was busy in some other court. The adjournment request was strongly opposed by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, who said this can't be allowed and the Centre should be permitted to file written submissions.

The bench then told the Centre's lawyer to call Mehta at 3.45 pm and deferred the matter. When the matter was taken up later, Mehta appeared before the bench and submitted that a CD had been submitted, and he would make submissions after the court watched it. The court then posted the matter for hearing on March 10 and said it would watch the videos by then.