Ladakh bodies hold protests ahead of Sep. 24 violence anniversary; Ladakh L-G withdraws cases against 20 locals
The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh announced the withdrawal of criminal cases against 20 persons booked in connection with violence that broke out in Leh on September 24, 2025, including the four persons who died in the incident.
The announcement came days ahead of the first anniversary of the 2025 Leh violence, which had occurred during protests seeking statehood and Sixth Schedule safeguards for Ladakh, and in which four people died and several were injured.
A symbolic padyatra (foot march) was organised in Leh to mark the anniversary of the violence.
The case withdrawal followed a meeting in Leh between representatives of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and the Leh Apex Body (LAB) — the two civil society platforms leading the movement — and officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The Sixth Schedule (Article 244(2))
The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, given effect through Article 244(2), provides for the administration of tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram through Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). These councils can make laws on subjects such as land, forests, water management, shifting cultivation, village and town administration, inheritance, marriage and divorce, and social customs, and can also constitute village courts — though council legislation requires the Governor's assent.
Key Details
- Applies today only to designated tribal areas within Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram (about ten ADCs across these four states); Ladakh is not currently covered.
- Over 97% of Ladakh's population belongs to Scheduled Tribes; in 2019 the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes recommended extending Sixth Schedule protection to the region on this basis.
- Extending the Sixth Schedule to a new area outside the Northeast requires Parliament to amend the Schedule itself — this is the constitutional route Ladakhi groups are asking Parliament to invoke.
- Sixth Schedule councils enjoy constitutional protection, unlike bodies created by ordinary statute, which can be altered or repealed by a simple parliamentary majority.
Sixth Schedule status, alongside full statehood, is the central institutional demand of the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance, and is the demand the 2025 protests (and their anniversary) are built around.
Ladakh's Union Territory Status (J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019)
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 bifurcated the former state, effective October 31, 2019, into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without a legislature). Ladakh, comprising the Leh and Kargil districts, is administered directly by a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the President, with no elected Assembly or Chief Minister.
Key Details
- The Act extended around 106 central laws and repealed roughly 153 state laws in the two new Union Territories.
- Ladakh is one of only a small number of Union Territories administered without any legislature (others include Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu).
- The absence of an elected legislature or local representation in law-making is the structural grievance underlying demands for either full statehood or, alternatively, Sixth Schedule safeguards.
The lack of legislative representation since the 2019 reorganisation is the backdrop against which the September 2025 protests, and the demand for constitutional safeguards, took shape.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC)
Ladakh already has local self-government bodies distinct from the Sixth Schedule — the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) for Leh and Kargil, created under a separate law (the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act). LAHDC Leh held its first elections in 1995; LAHDC Kargil was constituted later, in 2003.
Key Details
- LAHDCs handle local subjects such as land use, health, education, and tourism within their respective districts.
- Because they derive from ordinary legislation rather than a constitutional schedule, LAHDCs lack the legislative and judicial powers, and the constitutional entrenchment, that Sixth Schedule Autonomous District Councils enjoy.
- This distinction — statutory local council versus constitutionally protected autonomous council — is the crux of why Ladakhi groups consider the existing LAHDC arrangement insufficient and continue to press for Sixth Schedule inclusion.
The existing LAHDC framework is often cited by protesting groups as inadequate protection compared to the constitutional guarantees the Sixth Schedule would provide.
- Leh violence date: September 24, 2025; four deaths reported.
- Cases withdrawn: 20 persons, including the four deceased.
- J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 took effect on October 31, 2019, creating the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).
- LAHDC Leh: first elections held in 1995. LAHDC Kargil: established in 2003.
- Sixth Schedule (Article 244(2)) currently applies only in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.