Indian police forcibly hospitalise activist after 20-day hunger strike

Police said there was a ‘slight commotion’ as demonstrators tried to stop them from seizing Sonam Wangchuk, who is fasting over alleged corruption in India’s exam system.Police have forcibly removed a prominent activist from a protest site in New Delhi and taken him to hospital, saying his health was deteriorating from a hunger strike over alleged corruption in India’s exam system.Sonam Wangchuk, 59, was removed on Saturday from the protest site at the Jantar Mantar, a park housing large 18th-century astronomical devices, 20 days into a fast that has become a focal point of a campaign by mainly youthful activists demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘I’m a cockroach’: Gen Z protest movement lands in Indian capitallist 2 of 3‘My voice is being heard’: A month of India’s Cockroach Janta Partylist 3 of 3Telegram challenges India app ban, calls move unconstitutionalend of listThe protest movement, which calls itself the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), emerged in May after a chief justice on India’s Supreme Court likened some unemployed young people to “cockroaches”. Initially it mainly involved satirical online memes, but hundreds of students and activists have gathered at the Jantar Mantar since Wangchuk began his hunger strike on June 28.Wangchuk was “shifted to hospital for essential medical care” on the orders of the High Court following expert advice from doctors, a New Delhi Police deputy commissioner said in a statement.“While complying with the orders … the protestors tried to create obstruction, in which slight commotion ensued,” the statement said. “We request the protestors at Jantar Mantar to peacefully vacate the place at the earliest.”A few hours before his enforced hospitalisation, Wangchuk wrote on X: “Smaller Movements have brought down many governments in India… & Here it is about education.”An engineer by training, Wangchuk is best known for pioneering water conservation projects in the Himalayas.India’s national examination system has come under intense public criticism over allegations of corruption and mismanagement.