'Iron Lady' vows to continue 12-year fast
Source: Agencies |
March 5, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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IROM Sharmila has not eaten a meal in 12 years. The 40-year-old has been on a hunger strike - and force fed through a tube by authorities - to protest an Indian special powers act.
Sharmila was charged yesterday with attempted suicide in a case likely to bring major attention to her quiet protest in the tiny northeastern state of Manipur against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Under the law, in effect in Indian-controlled Kashmir and parts of the country's northeast, troops have the right to shoot to kill suspected rebels without fear of possible prosecution and to arrest suspected militants without a warrant. It also gives police wide-ranging powers of search and seizure.
Dubbed the "Iron Lady" by her supporters, Sharmila has become a rallying point for those demanding the law's repeal.
Sharmila had her last voluntary meal on November 4, 2000 in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state. She was arrested three days later and has been force fed through a tube in her nose ever since. Under law, she has to be released once a year to see if she will start eating. When she doesn't, she is taken back into custody and force fed.
The current charges stem from a 2006 protest she attended in New Delhi. Police took her from the protest venue, hospitalized her and registered a case of attempted suicide against her.
Magistrate Akash Jain charged her yesterday with attempted suicide. Appearing in court with her nose tube in place, she pleaded not guilty.
"I love life. I do not want to take my life, but I want justice and peace," the Press Trust of India quoted her as saying in court, which she attended after flying in from Manipur.
Jain set her trial for May 22. If convicted, she faces one year in prison. She remained unbowed as she left the courtroom.
"I will continue my fast until the special powers act is withdrawn," she said.
Human rights workers have accused Indian troops of using the law to detain, torture and kill rebel suspects, sometimes even staging gun battles as pretexts to kill.
The army says it needs extraordinary powers to deal with insurgents.
Indian Law Minister Ashwini Kumar defended the act, saying it is needed for conflict zones where the onus and burden of proof were not easy to resolve.
"Therefore, the opinion of the defense establishment and intelligence agencies was critical in such matters," Kumar was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper yesterday.
The law has come under fire amid India's reevaluation of its sexual violence laws following the gang rape and killing of a student on a bus in New Delhi in December.
Women's rights activists have said the law allows troops to rape women without fear of arrest or punishment.
Sharmila was charged yesterday with attempted suicide in a case likely to bring major attention to her quiet protest in the tiny northeastern state of Manipur against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Under the law, in effect in Indian-controlled Kashmir and parts of the country's northeast, troops have the right to shoot to kill suspected rebels without fear of possible prosecution and to arrest suspected militants without a warrant. It also gives police wide-ranging powers of search and seizure.
Dubbed the "Iron Lady" by her supporters, Sharmila has become a rallying point for those demanding the law's repeal.
Sharmila had her last voluntary meal on November 4, 2000 in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state. She was arrested three days later and has been force fed through a tube in her nose ever since. Under law, she has to be released once a year to see if she will start eating. When she doesn't, she is taken back into custody and force fed.
The current charges stem from a 2006 protest she attended in New Delhi. Police took her from the protest venue, hospitalized her and registered a case of attempted suicide against her.
Magistrate Akash Jain charged her yesterday with attempted suicide. Appearing in court with her nose tube in place, she pleaded not guilty.
"I love life. I do not want to take my life, but I want justice and peace," the Press Trust of India quoted her as saying in court, which she attended after flying in from Manipur.
Jain set her trial for May 22. If convicted, she faces one year in prison. She remained unbowed as she left the courtroom.
"I will continue my fast until the special powers act is withdrawn," she said.
Human rights workers have accused Indian troops of using the law to detain, torture and kill rebel suspects, sometimes even staging gun battles as pretexts to kill.
The army says it needs extraordinary powers to deal with insurgents.
Indian Law Minister Ashwini Kumar defended the act, saying it is needed for conflict zones where the onus and burden of proof were not easy to resolve.
"Therefore, the opinion of the defense establishment and intelligence agencies was critical in such matters," Kumar was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper yesterday.
The law has come under fire amid India's reevaluation of its sexual violence laws following the gang rape and killing of a student on a bus in New Delhi in December.
Women's rights activists have said the law allows troops to rape women without fear of arrest or punishment.
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