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SC questions govt over translation of Wangchuk’s speeches
The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre over the veracity of the translated version of speeches by the jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk
The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre over the veracity of the translated version of speeches by the jailed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and ordered the original pen drive supplied to him upon his arrest in September 2025 to be produced by Thursday.
The court’s order came at the penultimate day of the hearing in the matter filed by Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo seeking his release on the ground of procedural lapse by the authorities in denying him grounds of arrest and his claim that his speeches delivered over the past few years have been distorted to suggest that he instigated the violence in September last year that killed four people and injured hundreds.
Appearing for Angmo, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that till date, the detaining authorities have not responded to his arguments denying the offensive content of his speeches and cited specific instances attributed to him in the detention order which do not find mention in the original speech delivered by him in Ladakhi language.
The bench of justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale too observed this “variance” as it said: “What is there in the speech, there should not be any variance. The petitioner and the state may differ on interpretation but we have to be ad idem on the text of the speech.”
The court insisted on having “true” translation as it observed, “The translation (provided in English by the detaining authority) goes for 7-8 minutes but the speech (in Ladakhi) is for 3 minutes where he says stop the violence...We are in an era of artificial intelligence. Precision is only 98%, at least for translations.”
Sibal told the court that some of the statements attributed to Wangchuk are not there in the tabular chart presented by the detaining authority in court. “This is a unique detention order. You rely on something that does not exist,” he said.
The bench said: “We want an actual transcript of speeches. We find that what is in your (Sibal) text and what they (authorities) refer to is different.”
The court further asked Sibal if it was true that the four videos containing the offensive speeches delivered by Wangchuk were shared with him at the time of arrest. This issue became crucial as additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj submitted for the Centre that the videos were shown to him before taking him into custody.
Sibal said, “It is my claim that the videos were not supplied to me. Even if I assume that they were shown to me, which I say was not, it is not enough as you are required to supply me the document.” He further denied that these four videos were not part of the pen drive handed over to him on September 29.
To verify the same, the bench directed, “We direct the said pen drive in custody of the detenue shall be obtained by the jail authority in a sealed box to be sealed in his presence and forwarded in a sealed box by the Superintendent of Jail, Rajasthan by day after tomorrow.”
The court posted the matter for Thursday to enable Sibal complete his arguments.
Earlier, the court had sought a report on Wangchuk’s medical condition from authorities of Jodhpur Central Jail after the activist claimed he was not receiving treatment for his stomach ailment. After going through the medical report, the court had asked the Centre whether it was inclined not to further extend the detention. However, the Centre told the court that releasing Wangchuk was neither desirable nor possible, while describing him to be fit, hale and hearty.
