Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike since June 28, was forcibly taken to hospital by the Delhi Police on Saturday. The police claimed that he had been shifted to hospital for “essential medical care” in compliance with a High Court order.

Wangchuk’s fast at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which is part of a protest led by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations, had entered its 21st day on Saturday.

The activist has been admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital, Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo said on social media.

The campaign said that Wangchuk had continued his hunger strike at the hospital.

Here are more updates from the protest:

Dipke’s fast

  • Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, who was allegedly stopped by the police from returning to the protest site on Saturday morning, reached Jantar Mantar and began an indefinite hunger strike.
  • Dipke called for nationwide peaceful protests. “We need to send a message that the people won’t accept this kind of dictatorship,” he said in a video shared by the political campaign.
  • He said that Wangchuk’s removal from the protest site would not end the campaign and reiterated the protester’s plan to march to Parliament on Monday, when the Monsoon Session begins. “Until now, we were demanding Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation,” ANI quoted him as saying. “But after this despicable act, we will now demand the resignation of [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi.”
  • Three members of the All India Students’ Association – Neha Bora, Manish Kumar and Aameen Amitosh – continued their hunger strike after Wangchuk was taken away from the protest site. Protesters formed a human chain to prevent the police from forcibly removing them.
  • Hours later, an unidentified woman threw ink at Dipke while he was at the protest site, PTI reported.

Wangchuk in hospital

  • Safdarjung Hospital said that Wangchuk was weak because of prolonged fasting and dehydration, The Hindu reported. “Although he is currently stable, he requires continuous observation, monitoring and treatment to restore his body parameters,” the hospital was quoted as saying.  
  • Wangchuk’s wife said on social media that no treatment should be administered to the activist without the consent of “his family and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days”.
  • The Cockroach Janta Party alleged that the hospital administration and the police were not sharing Wangchuk’s medical reports or allowing phones inside the room where he was being treated. The campaign claimed that his lawyer and personal doctors had also not been allowed to meet him.
  • Later in the day, Wangchuk’s wife wrote to the hospital authorities seeking his discharge and transfer to a medical centre of “our choice”, saying that the “lack of transparency has shaken their trust”, The Hindu reported.
  • Wangchuk “has refused all intravenous fluids, oral rehyderation or any other medication”, PTI quoted the hospital’s medical superintendent as saying in a health bulletin on Saturday afternoon.

Claims and counter-claims

  • Earlier in the day, the Cockroach Janta Party claimed that Wangchuk had been “detained” and said it did not know where the activist had been taken.
  • The campaign’s spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said on social media that roads leading to Jantar Mantar had been blocked, and alleged that Dipke and other protesters had been beaten up.
  • Dipke had also claimed on social media that he had been beaten up and detained by the police.
  • However, the Delhi Police said that Wangchuk was shifted to hospital on expert medical advice because of his deteriorating health condition.
  • Protesters tried to obstruct the action by the security personnel while they were complying with the High Court’s directions, leading to a “slight commotion”, the police added. The police claimed that its personnel exercised “maximum restrain and undertook the exercise safely”.
  • On Thursday, the High Court directed the Centre and the Delhi government to monitor Wangchuk’s health daily and undertake any medical intervention required to improve his condition.
  • However, on Saturday afternoon, the police claimed that the doctors had arrived at Jantar Mantar in the morning for a routine medical examination, as directed by the court, when some protesters obstructed the process. They add that Wangchuk was taken to hospital on medical advice given his “delicate health condition”, for examination and any further intervention required.
  • The police has deployed several personnel at the Safdarjung Hospital and Jantar Mantar.
  • The police action drew criticism from several Opposition leaders, who accused the Union government of suppressing peaceful protest. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Wangchuk was on a non-violent hunger strike and removing him from the protest site was wrong. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said the action against Wangchuk amounted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulting the activist.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava, Sara Varghese and Nachiket Deuskar.

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