Throughout her struggle, Irom Sharmila has refused to plead guilty to the charge of “attempt to suicide”, remaining committed to repeal of AFSPA. She says that her fast is only a peaceful political protest, not a violent, personal act of trying to kill herself. It is evident that the provisions of the law seem extremely inadequate to deal with her condition and put up any feasible defense against her position.
She remains confined to a bed in the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital of Imphal and has spent 15 years trying to convince a deaf Government. Her selfless struggle is exemplary, and none can deny that her confinement has brought to the fore the limitations of the law of the land. Section 309 remains criminalized, and has been unjustly applied to a crusader; it remains an offence under the Indian Penal Code.
The Manipur government believes that it is under some moral obligation to keep Irom Sharmila alive even if it means that she has to remain confined to a hospital bed with a tube in her nose for the rest of her life, and be cut off from any kind of social existence.
Reactions on Sharmila’s case and the Continuing Drama
As a response to the latest
round of Sharmila’s release-arrest-release cycle, Meenakshi Ganguly, the South
Asia director of Human Rights Watch said the State has a responsibility to
protect her life”. “But it would be much better to engage with her, try and
address her demands, instead of arresting her. Let us be clear. Sharmila is not
attempting suicide. She is asking for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act. And this is not a particularly extraordinary demand. Many, both in
Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast, where this law is in force, have sought
its repeal. Several government commissions, human rights groups, activists,
judicial experts, United Nations special mandate holders, have all said that
AFSPA [Armed Forces Special Powers Act] is a highly abusive law and should be
repealed, replaced with one that respects rights.”
There have been two
occasions when courts in Manipur ruled that Sharmila was just trying to get her
voice heard. The Chief Judicial Magistrate in an order had said: “The
accused person [Irom Sharmila] is not trying to kill or destroy herself, but to
suffer herself of all deprivations so that her voice or demands are heeded, listened
and fulfilled”.
In August 2014, the
Imphal Sessions Court had passed a similar order. At that time, Sharmila
had been released, during which she addressed a press conference for the first
time in her life of protest. She spoke of “living, swallowing her tongue all
these years, so that violence could end”.
But the cyclical farce
repeated just two days later. Sharmila was taken away as the women who had
gathered there resisted, fought back, even pelted stones at the police van.
Sharmila, herself shouted and screamed but was lifted and taken away in the
melee. A fresh FIR was filed and once again Section 309 was used. A government
doctor who had examined her over the two days she was free had told journalists
that “she [Sharmila] was very dehydrated,” perhaps prompting concerns over her health,
and leading to her subsequent arrest.
Even a small opportunity
for talks of some sort or some form of engagement with the protestor had been
lost. When journalists met Manipur’s deputy chief minister Gaikhangam Gangmei
later in the day, he said: “What can we do, we can’t let her die. This way she
lives”. A dialogue, a conversation, a memorandum, a plea from the Cabinet, a
political engagement, none of these ideas seemed to be on the minister’s mind.
In 2014, Amnesty
International also demanded that the Indian Government
release Irom Sharmila
„immediately and unconditionally‟.
Politically Motivated Hunger Strike vs Attempt to Commit Suicide
In 1975 and 1991, the
World Medical Association, while establishing guidelines for doctors
involved in hunger strikes, made a distinction between the mentally or psychologically
impaired individual who chose a voluntary fast, and the hunger striker who
chose this form of protest for a political goal. This enabled them to label the
action of the former as a suicide. In a paper "Medical and Ethical Aspects of
Hunger Strikes in Custody and the Issue of Torture", the physician
Hernan Reyes said: “The clear-cut case of a politically motivated hunger
striker is different. The striker does not want to die: on the contrary, he
wants to „live better‟, by obtaining something for himself, his group or his
country. If necessary, he is willing to sacrifice his life for his cause, but
the aim is certainly not suicide.”
In the case of Irom
Sharmila, the thin dividing line between attempt to suicide and hunger strike
as a form of political protest is getting blurred. The force-feeding which had
been given legitimacy as an act of life-saving, has in the past 16 years
snatched her freedom and her well-being. She is being formally kept alive to put
it on record that the state does not let her die. Maybe Sharmila dead would
pose a greater danger for the State than Sharmila alive.
“I won’t eat anything till I achieve my aim,” said Sharmila when
she left the court of the chief judicial
magistrate. The veteran Anna Hazare had written to Sharmila urging her to join
his protest in the national capital of Delhi, when he had begun his crusade for
the Jan Lokpal Bill. Sharmila had replied from her hospital bed: “I am unlucky
because I cannot come to New Delhi. I am not a free Indian.”
Sharmila’s Stand Vindicated
The Supreme Court, on 10
August, 2015 said the fact that compensation has been paid to the next of kin
of victims of security forces' encounter killings in Manipur "amply
indicate" that such encounters were fake and the question would be
"were they valid”. It asked the Manipur government to appraise the court
of the steps taken after compensations were paid to kith and kin of deceased
persons. "If you think it was a valid encounter, then why are you paying
compensation? Have you challenged any of the orders?" the social justice
bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit said.
The court had been told by
the amicus curiae that the State and the Central Governments and NHRCG had
provided a list of 62 killings that were sought to be passed-off as those of
militants by security forces. The court asked Manipur government to file its
reply to a petition by one Suresh Singh seeking repeal of Armed Forces Special
Powers Act.
Earlier, the court had
asked the Centre, Manipur government and NHRC to submit a comprehensive report
on alleged fake encounter cases in the state, including 62 such cases where
FIRs have not even been lodged. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for
Extra Judicial Execution Victims' Families Association, had said "in all these
62 cases, not a single FIR has been lodged against any of the accused."
Statement of Irom
Sharmila in Court,6 October , 2015
Manipuri Civil Rights
activist Irom Sharmila told a Delhi court on 6 October 2015, after 15 long
years of hunger strike, that the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers)
Act should be scrapped as it has caused “immense hardship” to the people of the
State and thousands of innocent persons have been killed over the years.
In her statement which was
recorded before a Delhi Court, in a case in which she faces trial for allegedly
trying to commit suicide while undertaking fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in
2006, Ms. Sharmila said that the police had violated her fundamental rights and
had implicated her in a false case. Ms. Sharmila broke down in the Court while
recording her statement.
She told the Metropolitan
Magistrate Mr. Akash Jain that she had sat on a fast at Jantar Mantar in New
Delhi on October 4, 2006, but had been forcibly removed by the police.
“It is correct that I had
sat on fast at Jantar Mantar on October 4, 2006 but I have been fasting since
2000 and same has not affected my health and I have never refused medical
checkup...,” she told the Court.
“I have been demanding that
AFSPA be repealed or lifted from Manipur as the same has caused immense
hardship to the common man of Manipur. Thousands of innocent people have been
killed; hundreds of rapes have taken place on Manipur’s women. No action has
been taken under the garb of AFSPA,” she said.
She also said in the court
that she has been continuing her struggle against AFSPA and as the issue was
getting worldwide attention, the police had violated her fundamental rights and
had forcibly removed her from Jantar Mantar during her fast in 2006.
The court concluded the
recording of Ms. Sharmila’s statement, during which she said that she wanted to
examine witnesses in her defense. The court had fixed the matter for the very
next day, when Ms. Sharmila’s lawyer filed a list of defense witness. The court
had on June 6, 2015 concluded recording of prosecution evidence and had fixed
the case for recording of Ms. Sharmila’s statement under section 313 of CrPC.
Ms. Sharmila had earlier
told the court that she was very much eager to eat if she got the assurance
that the “draconian” act would be revoked.
Widespread discrimination was being done with the people from Northeast,
she had alleged, adding she never intended to commit suicide and it was just a
protest against AFSPA. The court had on March 4, 2013, put her on trial after
she had refused to plead guilty to the charge of attempting to commit suicide
(section 309 of IPC).
Well known as the „Iron
Lady‟, Ms. Irom Sharmila had earlier told the court that her protest was
non-violent.
○○ शहरों के उपनाम ○○
○ भगवान का निवास स्थान➖परयाग
○ पांच नदियों की भूमि➖पजाब
○ सात टापुओं का नगर➖मबई
○ बनकरों का शहर➖पानीपत
○ अतरिक्ष का शहर➖बगलुरू
○ डायमंड हार्बर➖कोलकाता
○ इलेक्ट्रॉनिक नगर➖बगलुरू
○ तयोहारों का नगर➖मदुरै
○ सवर्ण मंदिर का शहर➖अमृतसर
○ महलों का शहर➖कोलकाता
○ नवाबों का शहर➖लखनऊ
○ इस्पात नगरी➖जमशेदपुर
○ पर्वतों की रानी➖मसूरी
○ रलियों का नगर➖नई दिल्ली
○ भारत का प्रवेश द्वार➖मबई
○ पर्व का वेनिस➖कोच्चि
○ भारत का पिट्सबर्ग➖जमशेदपुर
○ भारत का मैनचेस्टर➖अहमदाबाद
○ मसालों का बगीचा➖करल
○ गलाबी नगर➖जयपुर
○ कवीन ऑफ डेकन- पुणे
○ भारत का हॉलीवुड➖मबई
○ झीलों का नगर➖शरीनगर
○ फलोद्यानों का स्वर्ग➖सिक्किम
○ पहाड़ी की मल्लिका➖नतरहाट
○ भारत का डेट्राइट➖पीथमपुर
○ पर्व का पेरिस➖जयपुर
○ सॉल्ट सिटी➖गजरात
○ सोया प्रदेश➖मध्य प्रदेश
○ मलय का देश➖कर्नाटक
○ दक्षिण भारत की गंगा➖कावेरी
○ काली नदी➖शारदा
○ बलू माउंटेन➖नीलगिरी पहाड़ियां
○ एशिया के अंडों की टोकरी➖आध्र प्रदेश
○ राजस्थान का हृदय➖अजमेर
○ सरमा नगरी➖बरेली
○ खशबुओं का शहर➖कन्नौज
○ काशी की बहन➖गाजीपुर
○ लीची नगर➖दहरादून
○ राजस्थान का शिमला➖माउंट आबू
○ कर्नाटक का रत्न➖मसूर
○ अरब सागर की रानी➖कोच्चि
○ भारत का स्विट्जरलैंड➖कश्मीर
○ पर्व का स्कॉटलैंड➖मघालय
○ उत्तर भारत का मैनचेस्टर➖कानपुर
○ मदिरों और घाटों का नगर➖वाराणसी
○ धान का डलिया➖छत्तीसगढ़
○ भारत का पेरिस➖जयपुर
○ मघों का घर➖मघालय
○ बगीचों का शहर➖कपूरथला
○ पथ्वी का स्वर्ग➖शरीनगर
○ पहाड़ों की नगरी➖डगरपुर
○ भारत का उद्यान➖बगलुरू
○ भारत का बोस्टन➖अहमदाबाद
○ गोल्डन सिटी➖अमृतसर
○ सती वस्त्रों की राजधानी➖मबई
○ पवित्र नदी➖गगा
○ बिहार का शोक➖कोसी
○ वद्ध गंगा➖गोदावरी
○ फाउंटेन और माउंटेन शहर➖उदयपुर
○ सिल्क सिटी➖भागलपुर