Days after Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk was arrested, his wife Gitanjali Angmo wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday, seeking "unconditional" release of her jailed husband.
Sonam Wangchuk was booked under National Security Act and has been imprisoned in Jodhpur jail.
Gitanjali, who is the founder and CEO of Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, urged President Murmu to understand the feelings of the people of the Union Territory, given her own tribal background.
Calling her husband a "peaceful Gandhian protester", she said Wangchuk is a person who can never be a threat to anyone, let alone his own country. "He has dedicated his life to serving the brave sons of soil of Ladakh and stands in solidarity with the Indian Army in defence of our great nation!" she added.
She said he built shelters for the Indian Army to help the jawans sleep warm and fight effectively. "To treat the son of the soil of Ladakh so shabbily is not just a sin but a strategic error for building strong borders with solidarity and peaceful coexistence," Gitanjali asserted.
Wangchuk's wife said he is a victim of "full-scale witchhunt" and has been targeted for the past four years to "kill the spirit of my husband and all the causes he stands for and espouses."
She claimed that she has not been permitted to speak to her husband on phone. "I am completely unaware of my husband’s condition. I was also told the officer would explain to me my legal rights. Even that has not been done till today," she added.
Saying she was "shocked and devastated", Gitanjali said she was under CRPF survelliance in Phyang village, the location of her institute. "Students and staff of the Institute were also put under tight surveillance. Two members of the Institute were taken into police custody over the past 3 days, presumably without any authority of law. Even the media was not allowed to enter the campus and speak to us so that the truth does not reach the world," she said.
