Of Sharmila's
re-arrest and an enduring struggle
David Buhril
March 11, 2008 00:05 IST
Last Updated: March 11, 2008 00:06 IST
Last Updated: March 11, 2008 00:06 IST
Irom Sharmila Chanu was
re-arrested on March 8, a day after she was released from
the security ward of JN Hospital in Imphal for continuing
her fast unto death in protest against the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act.
Irom Sharmila was arrested at
the Meira Shang near Aka Tren playground where she was
protesting.
The 'Iron Lady' was taken into
custody for attempting to commit suicide. Sharmila has
been in judicial custody since March 6, 2007 as she failed
to furnish necessary bail bonds. Under 309 IPC, the
punishment is one-year imprisonment. She was released on
completion after the one-year term.
Before her re-arrest, Sharmila
reaffirmed her decision to continue fasting until the
AFSPA was totally repealed. While the New Delhi-based
Asian Centre for Human Rights described the re-arrest as
another blow to justice, Sharmila requested the government
to kill her or let her die in peace if it did not intend
to repeal the Act.
On October 6, 2006, Sharmila
shifted her protest from the high-security wall built
around her in Imphal JN Hospital to New Delhi's Jantar
Mantar. However, she was immediately arrested. When
Sharmila was summoned to appear in the court of Kamini
Lau, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) at
New Delhi's Patiala House Court Complex, Sharmila honestly
told the court in her feeble voice, "It is my only
instrument. I have no other means."
When she was asked why she
wanted to end her life by fasting, she said, "It is my
duty in response to society's situation. I think this is
God's will."
Sharmila's counsel said though
Sharmila was charged under Section 309 IPC accusing her of
intending to commit suicide, she has never had any intent
to commit suicide. "Mere fasting," Sharmila's counsel
said, "cannot be construed as a criminal offence under
Section 309. She values life. She does not want to die."
Sharmila's counsel also said
that Section 309 is not applicable to Sharmila as her
effort was not to take her own life but to protest against
the "draconian act".
They said that the detention
and arrest of Sharmila was illegal. They also told the
court that Sharmila couldn't bear the injustice
perpetrated on the people of Manipur and the North East by
the security forces, who operate illegally and ruthlessly
under the cover of the AFSPA.
Sharmila's counsels also added:
"AFSPA was suitable for the British. Democracy, decency
and the AFSPA cannot go together."
Sharmila has been on fasts
since November 2, 2000 after the Malom massacre where 10
people were reportedly killed by the Assam Rifles. The
Army disallowed a magisterial enquiry into the incident.
The Army's high-handedness
prompted Sharmila to resort to fasting for the repeal of
AFSPA. The AFSPA empowers the representative of the
Central government, the Governor, to subsume the powers of
the state government with the power to declare "undefined"
disturbed areas. It also empowers the non-commissioned
officers of the Armed forces to arrest anyone without
warrant, to destroy any structure that may be hiding
absconders without any verification, to conduct search and
seize without warrant and to shoot even to the causing of
death.
The Malom massacre represents
one of the many cases of similar events that have become
routine in Manipur and North-East. However, due to AFSPA,
the bloodshed and killings remained untouched and
untraced.
AFSPA was modelled on the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance, which was promulgated
by the British government on August 15, 1942 to suppress
the Quit India Movement. Today, Manipur, where Sharmila
belongs, is tagged with "disturbed area", which actually
validated the State to allow AFSPA to prevail.
In the original version of the
AFSPA of 1958, only the state governments had the power to
declare an area as disturbed. However, the 1972 amendments
of the AFSPA took away the power from the state government
and handed it over to the governor.
However today, even if the
state government declares certain areas as disturbed, it
is the Centre and not the state government that takes the
decision. This has also necessitated Sharmila to shift her
protest to
New Delhi, which is home to the key
decision-makers. Manipur has been declared a "disturbed
area" since September 8, 1980. Since then the order has
been re-issued after every six months. The big question
today is: Is AFSPA an exceptional and temporary measure or
a permanent one?
In 2004 in Manipur, in the wake
of intense agitation that was launched by several civil
society groups following the death of Manorama Devi in the
custody of the Assam Rifles, and the indefinite fast
undertaken by Sharmila, Union Home Minister
Shivraj Patil visited the state and reviewed the
situation with state officials.
In the same year in November,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured that the
Centre would consider their demand sympathetically. The
Centre then set up a five-member committee under the
chairmanship of Justice BP Jeevan Reddy, former judge of
the
Supreme Court.
The BP Jeevan Reddy committee
submitted its recommendations on June 6, 2005. However,
the government failed to act on the recommendations. The
147-page report recommends that "the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act, 1958, should be repealed".
The committee met several
individuals, organisations, parties, institutions and
NGOs, which resulted in the report stating that "the Act
for whatever reasons has become a symbol of oppression, an
object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and
high handedness".
Sharmila, winner of the Gwangju
prize for Human Rights, 2007, is resolute when she said,
"I have not met my mother since I returned from
Delhi. But her blessings are always with me. I will
continue to shun food until the act is removed, be it in
judicial custody or elsewhere."
When the state fails to
question itself of the relevance and validity of the
"repressive" and "suppressive" Act, Sharmila continues to
find her movement more valid and relevant in the face of
the existing Act that has no respect for human rights and
dignity.
Irom Sharmila's determination
for an AFSPA-free Manipur grows stronger with every
passing moment. She yearns for peace and she strongly
believes that "real peace comes only through justice".
Despite the long struggle, Irom
Sharmila, however, is resilient and said, "I am
optimistic."
That is the mind behind her steely determination and
courage. When AFSPA resulted in violence and shedding
innocent blood, Sharmila is certain that it can be
overcome through non-violence. That has been her
instrument and language since she resolved to fast until
the draconian law is scrapped.
http://www.rediff. com/news/ 2008/mar/ 11manipur. htm
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