Sonam Wangchuk | Pakistan

The wife of an Indian hunger strike activist taken to hospital against his will accused the government on Sunday of “illegal detention” disguised as medical care. Police cited a court order and “deteriorating health condition” on Saturday when they picked up Sonam Wangchuk, who had refused to eat since June 28 in protest of alleged university exam fraud. The activist, 59, has demanded the education minister’s resignation after the leak of test materials that resulted in over two million students being forced to retake exams. Gitanjali J. Angmo, Wangchuk’s wife, said that she “lost faith” in the government hospital, which she said refused her desire to move her husband to a private facility. “With around 30 police personnel stationed on our floor and well over 100 across the hospital, our movement is severely restricted,” Angmo said. “It is not medical care. It is illegal detention,” she said, adding she asked the high court to allow her to move Wangchuk. The hospital, late on Saturday, said that Wangchuk hadn...

Delhi police forcibly moved activist Sonam Wangchuk to a hospital on Saturday over health concerns after 20 days of his hunger strike to protest against India’s examination system. Wangchuk, 59, has been fasting since June 28 to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in examinations to study medicine. A few hundred students have also joined Wangchuk around his stage at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in recent weeks, with other protests also organised by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) online movement. “As per the orders of … high court and on expert medical advice due to deteriorating health condition of Sonam Wangchuk, he has been shifted to the hospital for essential medical care,” a deputy commissioner of Delhi police said in a statement. “While complying with the orders … the protestors tried to create obstruction, in which slight commotion ensued,” the statement added. “We request the protestors at Jantar Mantar to peacefully vacate the place at t...

India on Saturday ended the preventive detention of prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, freeing him six months after he was arrested over protests in India-held Ladakh. The Buddhist-Muslim enclave was deprived of its autonomy in 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government carved it out of occupied Kashmir, placing the region under New Delhi’s direct control. Wangchuk, 59, an environmental advocate who became a key figure in Ladakh’s movement for greater autonomy, was held in September and later charged under India’s National Security Act (NSA) following protests that left four people dead and dozens wounded. New Delhi had blamed the violence on “provocative speeches” by Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike demanding either full federal statehood for India-held Ladakh or constitutional protections for its tribal communities, land and fragile environment. Authorities in the sparsely populated, high-altitude region bordering China and Pakistan at the time said the order, issued by the district magist...