Irom Sharmila to continue fast, faces arrest again

The State government, her supporters and family members were disappointed, though not surprised, when she said that she will continue her fast, shortly after her release.

Irom Sharmila walked out as a free person from the security ward of J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal at 5. 47 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ms. Sharmila, who has set a world record of having been on fast since November 4, 2000, was released on the orders of A. Guneswor Sharma, district and sessions court judge who ruled on Tuesday that she did not attempt to commit suicide and that the prosecution had failed to prove otherwise.

All along she has been maintaining that she never tried to commit suicide but used fasting as a weapon for her struggle to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

The State government, her supporters from India and abroad and family members were disappointed, though not surprised, when she told reporters at an improvised shed near JNIMS shortly after her release that she will continue her fast.

In the past she had continued her fast soon after her releases. Section 309 IPC under which she is detained empowers the authority to detain her for one year at one go. At the end of each year she would be ritually released, but only to be rearrested her within hours as she would continue her fast at the improvised shed.

Activists welcomed her when she came out of the security ward, which was declared as a sub jail, without police escorts. They walked the short distance from the hospital to the shed. She talked briefly to the reporters. In view of her physical condition following years of fasting reporters refrained from talking to her for long.

Ms. Sharmila said that she welcomed the ruling of Judge Sharma and it was proved that she did not try to commit suicide. However, she said that she will continue her fast till the repeal of AFSPA.

Police are on the standby near the shed, besides medical and paramedical teams. Police sources told The Hindu that they will arrest her at the early hours of Thursday.

As a result of long years of fasting her health is fragile and the government is not taking any chances. The government spends about Rs. 50,000 a month in nose feeding her.

She began her fast protest soon after the massacre of 10 persons including a woman by the personnel of 8 Assam Rifles at Mallom near Imphal on November 2, 2000.