Activist Sonam Wangchuk is on an indefinite hunger strike at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, seeking resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over irregularities in the NEET examination.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

Multiple Supreme Court judgments and orders highlight the state’s paternalistic duty of care to preserve the life of a person on a hunger strike without disrupting his right to dissent.

Yet the government has responded to activist Sonam Wanghuk’s ongoing fasting at Jantar Mantar with silence for the past 19 days even as an alarmed Delhi High Court asserted on July 16 that the “life of any citizen is precious”.

Published – July 16, 2026 09:34 pm IST