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Indian police, demonstrators clash in disputed Kashmir
A local court in India’s northeastern state of Manipur has ordered the release of the prominent human rights campaigner, Irom Sharmila Chanu.
According to her lawyer, Khaidem Mani, the court found no “prima facie evidence” to charge Irom under India’s attempted suicide law.
She is expected to be released by Thursday evening or Friday morning, the lawyer added.
Meanwhile, Babloo Laithangbam, a close aide to Sharmila, also confirmed that the court has dropped charges against the activist.
“The court has refused to accept a 2014 police charge-sheet. It has dropped the charges against her, we expect her to be freed soon,” media outlets quoted Laithangbam as saying.
Sharmila has been on hunger strike since November 2, 2000, to demand that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA), which she blames for violence in Manipur and other parts of India’s northeast. She has been called “the world’s longest hunger striker.”
Dubbed the “Iron Lady” of the Indian state of Manipur, Sharmila started hunger strike after 10 civilians were killed by security forces in her violence-plagued home state.
She is being nasal fed forcibly at the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in the city of Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
Sharmila has been arrested, released, and rearrested over and over for not eating in the past 14 years.
Under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, the maximum punishment for trying to commit suicide is one year.
Amnesty International has called on Indian authorities to end the “farcical” cycle of Sharmila’s arrests and re-arrests.
“Authorities must not detain Irom Sharmila again, but engage with the issues she is raising,” said Shemeer Babu, programs director at Amnesty International India.
A local court in India’s northeastern state of Manipur has ordered the release of the prominent human rights campaigner, Irom Sharmila Chanu.
According to her lawyer, Khaidem Mani, the court found no “prima facie evidence” to charge Irom under India’s attempted suicide law.
She is expected to be released by Thursday evening or Friday morning, the lawyer added.
Meanwhile, Babloo Laithangbam, a close aide to Sharmila, also confirmed that the court has dropped charges against the activist.
“The court has refused to accept a 2014 police charge-sheet. It has dropped the charges against her, we expect her to be freed soon,” media outlets quoted Laithangbam as saying.
Sharmila has been on hunger strike since November 2, 2000, to demand that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA), which she blames for violence in Manipur and other parts of India’s northeast. She has been called “the world’s longest hunger striker.”
Dubbed the “Iron Lady” of the Indian state of Manipur, Sharmila started hunger strike after 10 civilians were killed by security forces in her violence-plagued home state.
She is being nasal fed forcibly at the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in the city of Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
Sharmila has been arrested, released, and rearrested over and over for not eating in the past 14 years.
Under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, the maximum punishment for trying to commit suicide is one year.
Amnesty International has called on Indian authorities to end the “farcical” cycle of Sharmila’s arrests and re-arrests.
“Authorities must not detain Irom Sharmila again, but engage with the issues she is raising,” said Shemeer Babu, programs director at Amnesty International India.
