The Sonam Wangchuk hunger strike in Delhi ended on Saturday when police and paramilitary personnel removed the Indian activist and educationist from his protest site and took him to hospital, according to officials and his family. Wangchuk had been on fast for 20 days in support of a satirical protest movement pressing for education reforms.
Videos from Jantar Mantar, the protest site in the Indian capital, showed officers moving in shortly before 07:30 local time and pushing back demonstrators who tried to intervene. Wangchuk was covered with bedsheets before being taken away, and an ambulance was later seen leaving the area. His wife, Gitanjali Angmo, said on X that he had been admitted to Safdarjung Hospital and asked that nothing be given to him without consent from her, the family, and the doctors who had been monitoring him.
Hospital officials later said Wangchuk was alert and stable, though weak after prolonged fasting and suffering from mild dehydration. Dr Charu Bamba, the medical superintendent at Safdarjung Hospital, said he was being examined and monitored and that treatment was under way. A senior police official said the transfer was carried out in line with a court order and based on health conditions and medical advice. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma said Wangchuk had been moved to a government hospital for medical intervention and was under supervision.
The court order behind the move came from the Delhi High Court on Thursday. It asked the federal government to keep track of Wangchuk’s health regularly and provide treatment if needed. Wangchuk had refused repeated calls to end his fast, even as his condition worsened. Days earlier, he told supporters at Jantar Mantar that he had become weaker physically but remained determined, and he said the group would march peacefully to parliament and present its petitions there. He also joked that if he died before the march, his ghost would join it.
The protest is tied to the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, which began in May as an online satirical campaign against paper leaks and other problems in India’s exams. It has since drawn a large following on social media, and the demonstrators have been fasting for about a month. They want Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over the cancellation of a key medical entrance exam after a paper leak, and they say he should take moral responsibility. Pradhan has dismissed the group as the “B-team of disruptive elements,” while Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has not yet engaged with the protesters.
