Ladakh-based climate activist Sonam Wangchuk on Tuesday reflected on her nearly six-month imprisonment under the National Security Act in Jodhpur Central Jail, calling it an experience that gave her time for introspection.
Wangchuk was released from Jodhpur Central Jail after nearly six months of custody, after the government on Saturday canceled his detention under the NSA. He expressed his readiness to engage in dialogue to move forward constructively.
Speaking to ANI, Wangchuk said, “In my personal life, I would say (spending six months in jail) was a positive experience. It gave me time to introspect. From a justice perspective, many mistakes were made, many injustices were made, and these mistakes should not happen to anyone.”
He said, “But the way they were taken back, I think there is awareness of those mistakes, and where there is awareness, I will not raise that issue again. There should be no bitterness. We will sit for talks again and take steps to take this country forward.”
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Wangchuk described his nearly six-month ordeal in Jodhpur Central Jail as a “horrible story”, highlighting the challenges faced by his wife, Geetanjali J Angmo, in getting legal aid.
He said “I was waiting either to win in the court or to come out of jail after 12 months. I was fully prepared to spend 12 months in jail and come out and tell the horrific stories of all the injustice done to me and her (Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo). I was suddenly picked up from my home and thrown into this jail, for days, for more than a week, without me being allowed to call my family or my lawyers. Or about her, who could not express her grief due to heavy security arrangements and how she secretly went to Delhi and knocked on the doors of the court and how the car and motorcyclists kept chasing her on the streets of Delhi, it was like a movie scene.
Wangchuk was detained on September 26, 2025, two days after protests broke out in Leh demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
