New Delhi:Â A session court in Manipur on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of civil rights activist Irom Sharmila who has been on an indefinite hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for the past 13 years.
The 42-year-old ‘Iron Lady’ of Manipur was kept under house arrest following fears that she wants to commit suicide. She is being nose-fed by the state government at a government hospital, which was converted into a jail for her. The Manipuri government had slapped an attempt to suicide case on her.
Ordering her release, the court observed the prosecution has failed to establish Sector 309 (Attempt to Suicide) case on Irom Sharmila.
In view of her ill health, Sharmila is currently lodged in a special ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal where one room, where she is confined to, has been declared sub-jail.
The AFSPA, against which Sharmila has been fighting, provides unlimited powers to the security forces to shoot at sight, arrest anybody without a warrant or carry out searches without hindrances.