6 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 19, 2026 08:54 PM IST
In an urgent Sunday hearing, the Delhi High Court refused any interim relief to immediately discharge Sonam Wangchuk from the government-run Safdarjung Hospital, terming the police’s forcible removal of the activist from his hunger strike site as “not arbitrary”.
The court also sought responses from the government and the Delhi Police on a plea filed by the activist’s wife Gitanjali Angmo seeking his immediate discharge to allow him to be treated at Medanta Hospital. She alleged a “lack of transparency” because Safdarjung Hospital refused to share Wangchuk’s medical reports with her.
After nearly a 40-minute hearing, Justice Mini Pushkarna stated that Wangchuk has been administered only oral interventions without his consent, which were deemed necessary in light of his “deteriorating” condition. Justice Pushkarna observed, “It cannot be said that any force is being used against Wangchuk, or his bodily autonomy is being violated in any manner.”
Wangchuk has refused intravenous medical intervention even as an additional professor in the department of emergency medicine informed the court that he “needs to take vitamins”, starting with thymine. “We cannot give him that since he is not allowing IV access,” added the doctor, Dr Akshay Kumar of AIIMS, New Delhi.
Justice Pushkarna, while refusing Wangchuk’s request for a transfer to Medanta Hospital, also recorded in the order that he “will cooperate”.
The court also recorded that Safdarjung Hospital should share Wangchuk’s medical records with his family. It took into account Wangchuk’s deteriorating condition, noting that his potassium levels were “dangerously low”.
While holding that Wangchuk is not in detention and is a free citizen, the court said the activist did not check himself into any facility in view of his “deteriorating condition” on his own and that the government “was within its right to take such action”, relying on the high court’s July 16 order that observed that “life is precious and should be taken care of”.
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Angmo, who was present in the courtroom, was represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal. She informed the court that they would be taking “discharge against medical advice” and shift Wangchuk if necessary.
Vehemently opposing Angmo’s request, Additional Solicitor-General Chetan Sharma submitted on behalf of the government, “These are extraordinary circumstances, or rather prevailing circumstances… The government has to be extra careful… Whatever happens to him will have consequences… So the government has to be more circumspect than it is normally, and extra cautious.”
No comment on eavesdropping claim
The court did not make any observations on Angmo’s complaint that the family is “constantly” under police surveillance, including inside Wangchuk’s hospital room, with the petitioner further alleging that the police are “eavesdropping”.
Wangchuk was forcibly removed from his protest site by the police and admitted to the hospital early Saturday morning, two days ahead of the start of Parliament’s monsoon session on Monday, when Wangchuk and the activist platform Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had planned a march to Parliament. It also followed the appointment of a new Delhi Police chief. Wangchuk and the CJP are demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over question paper leaks and other irregularities in competitive exams.
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Angmo has alleged that the police took “undue advantage” of the high court’s July 16 order “as a colourable pretext” to remove Wangchuk from the protest site at Jantar Mantar without his “free and informed consent”.
On July 18, the court directed that Wangchuk’s health condition be monitored by government doctors and that appropriate medical action be taken as per doctors’ advice.
Angmo has outlined in her petition that following his admission to Safdarjung Hospital, Wangchuk has been “kept in a solitary manner, ostensibly under the pretext of medical treatment”.
Though Angmo was granted access to him, “Wangchuk’s access to his lawyer and his treating doctors was arbitrarily denied, in complete disregard of his rights and those of his family”, the petition states. She was also allegedly arbitrarily barred from taking her phone or any other electronic devices while meeting her husband. However, the court did not make any observations on the alleged denial of access to lawyers and electronic devices.
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Prior to moving court, Angmo had written to the medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, recording that “no oral or intravenous substance or fluid be administered” to Wangchuk without her consent. She had also flagged that the drop in Wangchuk’s potassium levels to 2.9, as informed by the hospital, “is unusual, concerning and warrants to be verified”, since a night before his potassium levels were normal.
Low potassium levels can impact the body’s muscle and nerve function.
It is Angmo’s case that she was given Wangchuk’s blood sample nearly 10 hours after her request on July 18 for independent testing, and that the hospital has subsequently refused to share his medical reports “either digitally or physically”, compelling her to seek his discharge on account of the “lack of transparency” by the hospital.
Notably, the independent testing of his blood potassium levels has been recorded at “3.6 mg (normal level) rather than the earlier claimed level of 2.9 mg”, Angmo has further pointed out in her petition.
