CLIMATE activist Sonam Wangchuk and several others whoweredetainedattheDelhi border while marching to the capital to demand Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh on Tuesday launched an indefinitefastatpolicestationswhere they have been kept. Wangchuk was leading the march, ‘Delhi Chalo Padyatra’, whichbeganfromLehamonth ago. He and around 120 othersfromLadakhweredetained on Monday night. Themarchwasorganisedby theLehApexBody(LAB),which along with the Kargil DemocraticAlliance(KDA),has been spearheading an agitation for the past four years to demandstatehoodforLadakh, seek its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution,early recruitment process along with a public servicecommissionforLadakh and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.

 

Wangchukandthoseaccompanying him were detained at the Delhi border for violating prohibitory orders and were taken to different police stations, including Bawana, Narela Industrial Area and Alipur, according to a police officer. “We tried to convince themto go back as Section163 oftheBharatiyaNyayaSanhita (BNS)(whichprohibitsassembly of five or more people) is imposed in the national capital but they were adamant,” the officer said. They remain under detention, he said. PLEAS FILED IN DELHI HC AGAINST WANGCHUK’S DETENTION: Petitions were filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday against the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and several others at the Delhi border. Ahabeascorpuspetitionwas mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela for listingonOctober3 by alawyer for Wangchuk’s “next friend”. The court agreed to list it on that day if the plea is in order, saying that it has already allowedarequest for listing in another petition concerning the detention.