“Under what authority is this happening?”: Wangchuk’s wife questions police presence in hospital

New Delhi : Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of activist Sonam Wangchuk, on Saturday questioned the presence of police personnel at Medanta Hospital and outside his ICU, asking under what authority they were restricting access to him if a court had clarified that he was not under detention.
In a post on X, Angmo said, “At both Safdarjung and now Medanta, police are everywhere. At the main gate. The reception. The lifts. Outside @Wangchuk66’s ICU. They decide who may or may not meet him.”
“If the Court has clarified that he is not under detention, then under what authority is this happening? In an enlightened democracy, is the role of the police to protect citizens and uphold the law, or to control citizens on behalf of those in power? These are questions every Indian should be asking,” she added.
Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike on Friday after receiving a written assurance from the Union Government regarding the NEET examination issue and systemic reforms in the country’s competitive testing framework.
Angmo had earlier on Friday urged people to show compassion towards her husband, saying he was in the ICU after losing 11 kg during the fast.
“Before you rush to criticise Sonam Wangchuk, first pause to earn the ethos of fasting for 26 days for a cause larger than yourself. He lies in the ICU today, having lost 11 kg, including muscle mass, because he chose sacrifice over comfort,” she had said in a post on X.
Wangchuk, in a video message shared on social media on Friday, also hit out at critics questioning his decision to end the hunger strike and said he should not have to seek a “character certificate” to prove his commitment to the cause.
“After 26 days of fasting for the sake of students, losing 11 kilograms of body weight in which I have also lost muscle mass and my organs and brain reached the verge of irreversible damage… do I have to seek a character certificate from anyone about how sacred my fast was, about whose hands I broke it at, or whether I made a deal or not?” he said.
He ended his hunger strike in the presence of Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh at Medanta Hospital on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has said its agitation will continue until Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns.
Earlier in the day, CJP activist Ashutosh Ranka also alleged that Delhi Police were preventing people from sending food and assisting demonstrators at the party’s protest site at Jantar Mantar.
“Dear Delhi Police, do whatever you want. You cannot stop people from coming to Jantar Mantar. You cannot stop people from having food. You cannot stop people from helping us. Most importantly, you cannot stop Pradhan’s resignation. He is going,” Ranka said in a post on X.
After a nearly two-hour meeting with Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh on Friday, CJP representatives claimed that the government had sought time till Saturday afternoon to deliberate on their demand for Pradhan’s resignation.