The Delhi High Court will on Wednesday hear a plea that seeks to allow climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and others to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar or any other suitable location in the national capital.
The plea was mentioned for an urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela but the bench listed it on Wednesday.
Petitioner Apex Body Leh said it initiated a peaceful protest march from Leh, Ladakh to Delhi along with Wangchuk and about 200 others.
It said the march had covered over 900 km in 30 days with the objective of raising awareness about the ecological and cultural degradation of Ladakh and the broader Himalayan region.
“The petitioner organisation intends to hold an awareness campaign and peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar or any other suitable location in Delhi,” the plea stated.
The plea further argued that the Delhi Police on October 5 had shot off a letter to the organisation while “arbitrarily rejecting the request” to hold a peaceful demonstration at Jantar Mantar and thereby “infringing upon the petitioner’s fundamental rights to speech and peaceful assembly”.
Wangchuk and his associates from Ladakh were allegedly detained at the Delhi border by the local police on September 30 when they were marching towards the national capital to demand the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. They were, however, released later.
The Sixth Schedule pertains to the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram as “autonomous districts and autonomous regions”.
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