At the city’s border, the Delhi Police have detained some 120 residents of Ladakh, including climate campaigner Sonam Wangchuk. The protesters had marched to the national capital to demand that the Union Territory be granted sixth schedule status.
The detained individuals, including Sonam Wangchuk, been taken to Alipur and other police stations near the city border, according to sources from Delhi Police.
Others, including Sonam Wangchuk, desired to stay overnight at the border. Since Delhi had issued prohibitory orders, they were first asked to return. However, when they persisted, the police officers stationed at the border captured roughly 120 individuals, including Wangchuk, according to a police officer.
They have been confined at Alipur Police Station and other neighboring police stations at the Delhi-Haryana border, the officer said, adding that they will be released after some time.
The source clarified that women taking part in the march were not imprisoned, stating that the detentions were carried out due to prohibitory orders that forbade assemblies of five or more people in north and central Delhi.
Shortly before being taken into custody, Wangchuk posted images from the Delhi border, when their busses were stopped due to a heavy police presence.
In the footage, the climate activist could be seen chatting with police officers.
According to Sonam Wangchuk’s tweet, their buses were accompanied by multiple Delhi Police and Haryana Police vehicles. Although they initially believed they were being escorted, it became evident as they neared the nation’s capital that they would be placed under arrest.
“As we are approaching Delhi, it appears we are not being escorted, we are being detained,” Wangchuk stated.
He stated that about a thousand police officers have been stationed at the Delhi border and that they have been notified that there has been a significant security force presence at the Ladakh Bhawan in Delhi as well as in neighbourhoods that are home to Ladakh students.
“It appears they don’t want to allow this padayatra to take place,” he stated.
The Leh Apex Body (LAB) organised the ‘Delhi Chalo Padyatra’. The KDA and LAB have been leading an agitation for the past four years in support of statehood, the extension of the Constitution’s sixth schedule, early recruitment along with a public service commission for Ladakh, and separate Lok Sabha seats for the districts of Leh and Kargil.
Citing concerns about law and order, including protest calls from many organizations, Delhi Police on Monday prohibited gatherings of five or more people, as well as those carrying banners, placards, arms, and/or participating in protests in the national capital’s core and surrounding districts for the following six days.
Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora has ordered the implementation of section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (previously section 144 of the CrPC) in the districts of New Delhi, North and Central, as well as all police stations that have jurisdiction over areas that share borders with other states. This order was issued from the Delhi Police Headquarters.
The ban prohibiting will be in effect until October 5.