The drama of release and re-arrest of Irom Sharmila
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 24, 2014 -
Irom Sharmila at the Samumakhong after a local Court ordered her release on January 22 2015 :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao
Continuing the annual ritual of release and re-arrest, anti-AFSPA crusader Irom Chanu Sharmila was set free from her imprisonment yet again by an order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Imphal East) on Thursday.
But it is just a matter of time that she would be re-arrested by the State administration once more to be kept confined in the designated security ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences at Porompat, where Sharmila has been forced-fed to keep her alive for more than 14 years now.
Here, we may recalled that in August last year, Session Judge, Manipur East passed an order for releasing Sharmila from the judicial custody after dismissing the charges of attempt to commit suicide slapped on her under section 309 of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Session Judge had also made it clear that the charges leveled against Sharmila could not be established and her over 14-year old fast against prolonged imposition of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur under which personnel of Armed Forces are given extraordinary powers with no accountability was not illegal.
But two days after her release, Sharmila was only taken into custody by the State administration on the ground that the court order had given the onus of ensuring the health and safety of Sharmila as well in case she resumes her fast after being set free, which she always does unfailingly.
This time too, after walking free from the court room of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal East, the ‘Iron Lady’ has resumed her fast at Shamu Makhong in the heart of capital Imphal, and, thus; we say it would be only a matter of time when she will be re-arrested by the State administration to be kept confined and isolated from the people who are crying for repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act once again.
While this farcical annual ritual of release and re-arresting Sharmila, which speaks volume about the failure of the State administration to look at the anti-AFSPA crusader as a victim and not as a culprit who deserves to be treated as an equally responsible citizen of the country fighting for a right cause - that of living a life with dignity and respect, it should be up to the people of Manipur to decide whether to keep alive the anti-AFSPA movement or let it die out, with or without Sharmila.
It’s a choice that is to be made, and surely not a hard one at that for anyone who has suffered long enough under a black law named Armed Forces Special Powers Act which has been denounced by many as an archaic piece of draconian legislation that should have no place in a modern democratic society.
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