Leh Apex Body rejects magisterial probe, demands judicial inquiry into Sep 24 firing case

Leh, Oct 2
The Leh Apex Body (LAB) on Thursday rejected the magisterial probe ordered by the UT administration to inquire into the September 24 law and order situation in the town.

The LAB has insisted that only a high-level judicial probe can establish the responsibility for the deaths of civilians in the firing on September 24.

LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjey has dismissed the inquiry led by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Nubra.

“We have maintained from day one that there should be a judicial inquiry into the killings of Ladakhi people. We want to know who ordered the firing on civilians without any warning. We don’t accept the magisterial inquiry and we reject it,” Dorjey told reporters.

He also rejected the possibility of any talks with the Central government unless what he called the core demands of the LAB are accepted.

He set the release of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and others detained on September 24 as a precondition for talks.

The Ladakh administration had appointed SDM Nubra Mukul Beniwal (IAS) as inquiry officer to ascertain the facts of the September 24 incident when police opened fire during protests in Leh town.

Four locals identified as Jigmet Dorjey of Kharnak, Rinchen Dadul of Hanu, Stanzin Namgail of Igoo, and Tsewang Tharchin of Skurbucha lost their lives in the firing.

The UT administration maintains that the security forces had to open fire in self-defence when unruly protesters pelted stones and torched a CRPF vehicle with the intention of burning alive the jawans inside the vehicle.

The mob also torched the local BJP office and the office of the LAB while the vehicle of DGP, S.D.Singh Jamwal was smashed, and the police chief escaped with bruises.

The Ministry of Home Affairs held the climate activist, Sonam Wangchuk, responsible for inciting violence in the town. The DGP told reporters that Wangchuk had been on a hunger strike since September 10, and when violence started in the town, he broke his fast and escaped from the spot in an ambulance.

Wangchuk was later detained under the National Safety Act (NSA) and shifted to Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.

Both the LAB and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), spearheading the agitation for statehood and the UT's inclusion in the 6th schedule, have demanded unconditional release of Sonam Wangchuk and all others detained on September 24, in addition to fixing responsibility for the firing in which four civilians were killed.