'I'm under surveillance': Wangchuk's wife tells SC, alleges privacy violations during jail visits

NEW DELHI: Gitanjali J Angmo, the wife of 52-year-old climate activist, Sonam Wangchuk, who has filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention, on Tuesday also filed an affidavit in the top court and said that she has een put under surveillance. I am being followed and am under surveillance in Delhi constantly. I have observed this fact after I came to Delhi on Septemner 30 and held a press conference in Delhi on the same day. As soon as I step out of my accommodation in Delhi, a car and a man on a bike trail me wherever I go across Delhi. This surveillance is inconsistent with the rights I enjoy as a citizen of this country under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, said the affidavit filed by Gitanjali. She also said that she had visited Sonam Wangchuk on October 7 and on October 11 at Jodhpur Jail. On both occasions, as soon as I landed and came out of the Airport, the officers from the Intelligence Bureau and the Rajasthan Police came to me right outside the Airport and asked me to sit in their car with white curtains drawn on the windows blocking the view, and they took me to the jail for the meeting. The said officers took me to the office of the Jail Superintendent and were there with me for the entire period. Before every visit, they ask me the details of my journey and the time I would land in Jodhpur, said her affidavit copy, accessed by TNIE. Gitanjali further added that during the meeting with Wangchuk, the DCP, Mangalesh, and a lady constable sat within earshot for the entire duration of the meeting and took notes of the conversation. After the meeting was over, the said officer of the Rajasthan Police was asked to take pictures of the notes by the Jail Superintendent, which I wrote to seek legal assistance on the instructions of Sonam Wangchuk. The Officer then took pictures of my notes, the affidavit of Gitanjali said. She further added that after the meeting was over, the aforesaid officers did not allow me to go anywhere else or to meet anyone in Jodhpur and further took me to the railway station even when I had few hours to spare before I could board the train. They boarded the train with me and they alighted from the train at Merta Road Junction, the next stop which came after 2 hours of the train journey from Jodhpur, she stated. Objecting that her privacy was interfered with while she met Wangchuk, Gitanjali submitted in the affidavit that as a free citizen, she was entitled to go to Jodhpur when she liked and meet her husband without restriction on my movements. No other person should have the right to be privy to my conversations with Sonam Wangchuk. These actions are violative of my rights under Article 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, she alleged in her affidavit. Leh administration defends Wangchuk's detention, tells SC he indulged in activities 'prejudicial to national security'