Irom Chanu Sharmila
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Irom’s 16-year fast, 200-16
The mowing down by Assam Rifles troopers of 10 civilians, including a national child bravery award winner, on November 2, 2000 near a bus stand at Malom village in Imphal West shook the state and gave the then 28-year-old Sharmila cause to fight for lifting of an Act, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives sweeping powers to the armed forces to carry out counter-insurgency operations.
Since then she was force-fed through her nose at the security ward of the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences close to her Kongpal Konkham Leikai residence in Imphal East.
The AFSPA was imposed in the militancy-ravaged Manipur in 1980, which is seen as the foundation for the large number of killings by armed forces and police and security agencies, often seen as extra-judicial killings of both rebels and innocents.
Even as Sharmila's hunger strike entered the fourth year, the killing of Thangjam Manorama Devi by Assam Rifles, as an alleged member of rebel group People Liberation Army of Manipur on July 11, 2004 reinforced "extra-judicial killings" in the state.
Five days later, 15 women vigil group leaders, denouncing the Rifles' excesses, disrobed at the gate of then 17 AR headquarters at the historic Kangla Fort in the heart of Imphal, stunning the whole world.
Bowing to the unrelenting movement, the Okram Ibobi Singh government had, in August 2004, lifted the Army Act from Imphal municipal areas spreading over seven assembly constituencies in Imphal West and Imphal East districts.
The same year, Assam Rifles vacated Kangla fort. Then PM Manmohan Singh had also said that AFSPA was draconian and needed to be replaced. Manipur had witnessed large-scale protests against the excesses of the rifles.
2016
SC: Is AFSPA in Manipur eternal?
January: Irom Sharmila received the highest vindication possible for an Indian. The Supreme Court of India questioned the prolongation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. (For details, click the link.)
Attempt to suicide cases
The Times of India, Mar 02, 2016
Court again drops case for bid to kill self against Irom
Human rights crusader Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been fast ng for over 15 years demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Po wers) Act in Manipur, was on Monday released by an mphal court which acquit ed her of charges levelled against her under Section 309 IPC (attempt to suicide). Sharmila was last arrested on January 23, 2015. For he last 15 years, police have been arresting her every year, charging her with the same crime -attempt to suicide -every time. Interestingly , for the last few years, courts have been acqu tting her every year.
Straight after her release from the security ward of he JNIMS hospital, where she was force-fed through her nose, the `Iron Lady of Manipur' went and camped at the historic Saheed Minar in Imphal and resumed her stir. She declined health examination by a team of government doctors which visited her at Saheed Minar.
Titular king of Manipur Leishemba Sanajaoba met her and discussed the prevailing situation in the state. Sharmila told him her campaign is not for personal gain but for the people suppressed by the AFSPA.
2016: Policeman confesses
January 2016, Manipur police head constable Herojit Singh, one of the suspended commandos, confessed to killing Sanjit (22) in a fake encounter on the orders of Ak Jhalajit Singh, then additional SP of Imphal West and current the SP there. He also disclosed that CM Ibobi Singh and then DGP Y Joykumar Singh were in the know about the killing.
Manipuri rights activist Irom Sharmila was just 28 years when she vowed not to eat, drink, comb her hair or look in a mirror till the govt repealed the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). 16 years later, in 2016, she decided to change tack and contest elections instead. A glimpse at how her struggle panned out is ontained in the graphic on this page.
2016: Fast ends
The sudden decision of civil rights activist Irom Sharmila+ to end her 16-year-old hunger strike against AFSPA next month has taken everyone by surprise including her associates and family members.
• Irom's elder brother Singhajit, who has been with her throughout her struggle said he never knew she was going to terminate her fast • • Sharmila's long-time associate Babloo Loitongbam, Director of NGO Human Rights Alert Manipur, said he too was taken by surprisebut can understand the reason behind her decision. "If AFSPA+ has not been repealed in 15 years of her fast then it won't happen in another 30 years also," he said while admitting that he too was not kept informed about her decision.
In 2000, when the activist embarked on her hunger strike, she also had taken a vow to neither enter her house nor meet her mother till the government repealed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
Since then, she has met her mother Sakhi Devi only once when she was also admitted to the same hospital in 2009.
Her brother recalled that during the early years of her fast he regularly tried to convince her to end it.
"But she never listened to me. Finally I gave up and promised that I will be with her throughout her struggle. She used to say that she will break her fast only when they remove AFSPA. That was her promise," Singhajit said.
Nobody is sure what prompted her to take the decision. Her associates say her British boyfriend may have played a crucial role in ensuring that she breaks her fast.
