Draconian AFSPA law: Manipur lady enters 12th years of hunger strike

[Spring Onion]

IMPHAL: The 'Iron Lady of Manipur' Irom Chanu Sharmila, who has been on a hunger strike since 2000 demanding repeal of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), is completing 12 years of fast today.

Sharmila, a civil rights activist, began her hunger strike after the death of ten people in an alleged encounter with the Assam Rifles at Malom in Imphal valley on November 2, 2000.
She has been demanding repeal of AFSPA which the human rights activists hold as a draconian law. Currently she is in judicial custody where she is forcibly fed through her nose.

There will be several candlelight demonstrations by civil rights activists and members of social organisations today thoughout Manipur to express their solidarity with Sharmila.


Irom Sharmila 'Iron Lady of Manipur' completes 12 years fast today - The Times of India

 

[somebozo]

how is that even possible..she must be cheating

 

[Spring Onion]

how is that even possible..she must be cheating

"Currently she is in judicial custody where she is forcibly fed through her nose"

 

[Spring Onion]

She was doing this years ago I remember reading about it but AFSPA is here to stay we must not be weak when we are winning the fight.

She is on fast for the lasy 12 years and not just last year.

can someone throw light on AFSPA law

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

She is on fast for the lasy 12 years and not just last year.

can someone throw light on AFSPA law

 

[Hellraiser007]

how is that even possible..she must be cheating

She is not Cheating. Govt. officials feed her with minerals and vitamins through cyline ,since she refuses to take anything, with court orders.

 

[Ajaxpaul]

With the help of bangladesh and burma, we can withdraw AFSPA..

 

[Lyrical Mockery]

AFSPA needs to be amended if not repealed.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

In reports by inquiry panels, tales of AFSPA abuse in Manipur | The Indian Express

In what is bound to add intensity to the struggle of activist like Irom Sharmila against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), inquiry commission reports submitted by the Manipur government in the Supreme Court have revealed at least 10 killings in alleged fake encounters by the armed forces. Some of these people were killed because the personnel were angry and frustrated, the reports have stated.

The reports, submitted on court orders, have stated that people were killed by several security forces such as the CRPF, Assam Rifles, Manipur Police Commandos and Thoubal Police Commandos.

The Manipur government, which has been defending the armed forces personnel in the court, had been directed to adduce the reports of inquiry commissions instituted on the orders of the high court or on its own.

As per the reports, there have been instances when people were picked up for allegedly being extremists and killed on the spot. In other cases, civilians were killed in a fit of rage by the personnel.

As per one report, Yumnam Robita Devi was waiting at a bus stop on April 9, 2002 when she was killed, allegedly because CRPF personnel decided to vent their anger on civilians after their convoy was attacked by extremists who fled.

Soubam Boucha and his friend Salam Gurung were allegedly killed by a joint team of Manipur Commandos and 23 Assam Rifles in December 2009, while L Satish and Pebam G Singh were allegedly killed by Assam Rifles and Thoubam Police Commandos in their custody in cold blood, according to the reports. Notably, all the inquiry commission reports given to the court have found the armed forces guilty of abusing their powers and killing people in the name of encounters or extremism.

In one case, the inquiry commission was wrapped up by the state government after the family of the deceased requested that the state and the police wind up the inquiry.

In August 2013, The Indian Express had reported about six other cases of extra-judicial killings in the state, quoting from a court-mandated panel. The report of the panel, led by former judge Santosh Hegde, had said the six sample cases considered by it were “not genuine encounters” and that “maximum force” was used.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

In Pictures: Manipur's 'custodial killings' - In Pictures - Al Jazeera English


Irom Sharmila's release has once again put focus on extra-judicial deaths at hands of army in northeastern Indian state.

Manipur, a northeastern state of India bordering Myanmar, has been embroiled with armed insurgency and ethnic conflict for the past four decades.

The Indian government imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in 1980 to deal with the armed rebellion, in what the government calls "a disturbed area".

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which is also applied in India-administered Kashmir, gives security forces the power to detain and arrest anybody on mere suspicion, enter and search without warrants. The armed forces are exempt from any investigation or prosecution under the law that many human rights activists dub draconian.

Under this Act, several human rights violations such as fake encounters, torture, sexual abuse and enforced disappearances committed by Indian armed forces have come to light.

Irom Sharmila, a human rights activist based in Manipur, had been fasting for the past 14 years demanding the repeal of this Act, which is arguably one of the longest protest fasts in history.

She was released from a prison hospital in Manipur on August 20 where doctors had force fed her to keep her alive. She was charged with the attempt to commit suicide, which is a crime under Indian law.

"It is hard for me to believe that I am free now. My battle against injustice and crimes committed by the army in Manipur will continue," Sharmila told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

In 2004, following the rape and murder of a young woman named Thangjam Manorama, widespread protests took place in the northeastern Indian state. Manorama's death triggered a protest by 12 middle-aged women who stripped naked and protested holding up signs saying "Indian Army Rape Us" in the state capital, Imphal, which made international headlines.

In January last year, the Supreme Court appointed a commission to make inquiries into these allegations after a public interest litigation was filed listing 1,528 people as victims of this draconian law. Six cases were pulled up at random and investigated, all of which were found to be fake encounters.