The Centre and the Union Territory of Ladakh administration told the Supreme Court on Monday that jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk tried to instigate Gen Z for protests like in Nepal and Bangladesh. ADVERTISEMENT"He carefully crafted his speech to instigate Gen Z and asked for agitations like in Nepal and Bangladesh and used speeches of Mahatma Gandhi to cover the real intention," Mehta said. Countering the argument of Wangchuk's wife made through senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Mehta said that the district magistrate has not relied upon any "borrowed material" for passing the detention order. "This argument of 'borrowed material' itself suffers from inherent fallacy as the district magistrate does not need to go to each and every place where he made the speech and hear it firsthand. "Such arbitrary exercise of preventive powers amounts to gross abuse of authority, striking at the core of constitutional liberties and due process, rendering the detention order liable to be vitiated by this court," it alleged.

Source: The Telegraph February 02, 2026 15:18 UTC