Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike since June 28, was taken away from the protest site at Jantar Mantar on Saturday morning, with the Delhi Police saying he had been shifted to hospital for “essential medical care” in compliance with a High Court order.

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

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

Here are more updates from the protest:

  • Four members of the All India Students’ Association – Neha Bora, Manish Kumar, Aameen Amitosh and Hamad – 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.
  • Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, who had been allegedly stopped by the police from returning to the protest site, reached Jantar Mantar on Saturday morning and announced that he would begin an indefinite hunger strike. He also 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.
  • Dipke 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 July 20. “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.”
  • 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. Cockroach Janta Party Spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said in a social media post that roads leading to Jantar Mantar had been blocked and alleged that Dipke and other protesters were beaten up. Dipke had also claimed in a social media post that he had been beaten up and detained by the Delhi Police.
  • The Delhi Police, however, said Wangchuk was shifted to hospital on expert medical advice because of his deteriorating health condition. Protesters tried to obstruct the police’s action while it was complying with the High Court’s directions, leading to a “slight commotion”, it added. The police claimed that personnel exercised “maximum restrain and undertook the exercise safely.”
  • It also appealed to protesters at Jantar Mantar to “peacefully vacate the place at the earliest”. On Thursday, the Delhi 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.
  • Safdarjung Hospital said on Saturday that Wangchuk was weak due to 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.  Angmo said in a social media post that no treatment should be administered to Wangchuk without the consent of “his family and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days”. 

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: What Irom Sharmila, who fasted for 16 years, thinks about Sonam Wangchuck’s hunger strike