Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife has requested an urgent hearing in the Delhi High Court as his health deteriorates after weeks of hunger strike for reforms in the education system. Gitanjali Angmo has called her husband’s stay in the government-run Safdarjung hospital an “illegal detention” and sought the court to allow her to shift him to a private facility.
In her petition to the high court, Angmo has also sought full access to the lawyers and doctors who had been treating him.
Wangchuk was removed from the Jantar Mantar protest site and shifted to Safdarjung hospital in a surprise police action last morning — on the 21st day of his hunger strike.
Angmo visited him in the hospital and shared that he had been continuing his hunger strike even there. She alleged a lack of transparency in his treatment and sought his discharge.
The hospital later said he was stable with signs of dehydration and that he had refused treatment.
‘Lost Faith In Safdarjung’
Wangchuk’s wife has accused the hospital of withholding his medical data from public bulletins and asserted that she has “lost faith” in the government-run hospital.
“I have lost faith in Safdarjung Government Hospital. The hospital told us Wangchuk’s potassium had dropped to 2.9, describing it as alarming and life-threatening. Yet, in its public health bulletin, it conveniently omitted the actual number, referring only to “decreasing potassium levels.” An independent laboratory test reported 3.5, well within the normal range,” she said in her online post.
Despite requests, she alleged that the hospital refused to discharge him or shift him to a private hospital. She also claimed that their movement within the premises was severely restricted, with over a hundred cops deployed in the hospital, including 30 personnel on the floor where Wangchuk is admitted.
“It is not medical care. It is illegal detention…I have therefore moved the High Court and sought an urgent hearing today, praying for permission to shift Sonam before his health deteriorates further,” she said in her post. “No family should have to fight the system simply to choose where their loved one receives medical care,” she added.
Wangchuk’s Protest
Wangchuk, an educator himself, had been demanding greater transparency and accountability in the education system. He has staged several protests and hunger strikes over the years for issues related to Ladakh and education. The trigger for the latest demonstration is the alleged NEET paper leak.
He had been on hunger strike since June 28 as part of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s protest against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On July 18 morning, police reached the Jantar Mantar protest site and took him to Safdarjung hospital. The police action came days after the high court asked the government to do whatever it could to save Wangchuk’s life.
In the next phase of the protest, the focus appears to move to Parliament. Wangchuk had earlier vowed to lead a march to Parliament as it resumes for the Monsoon Session tomorrow. But with him in the hospital, his wife Angmo has now taken over the lead and said she would represent him at tomorrow’s march.
Meanwhile, in a handwritten note from Safdarjung, Wangchuk called for making the march a big success, branding it as the country’s “second freedom movement”.
His message was signed, “Sent through Gitanjali, from my illegal detention at Safdarjung.”
Wangchuk had earlier spent nearly six months in detention under the National Security Act (NSA) after four died during his protest for statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.