New Delhi: Manipuri human rights activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on a fast for 16 years to press for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), will break her fast on 9 August, according to CNN-News18.
Irom Sharmila will break her fast on 9 August. AFP
The news channel also reported that Sharmila will contest elections in Manipur, which will be held in 2017.
She had been re-arrested on 2 March, merely two days after she was released, when a court found her not guilty of the charge of attempt to commit suicide.
Sharmila has been arrested, tried, released and arrested again several times on the charge of trying to take her own life.
Though Sharmila says that she loves her life and that she is using fasting as a weapon to secure the repeal of AFSPA, 1958, she is charged under section 309 IPC whenever she is arrested.
She had started her hunger strike on 4 November, 2000. AFSPA, which is in effect in many parts of northeastern India and Kashmir, gives security forces sweeping powers to search and shoot on sight. The act is criticised for allegedly allowing security personnel to abuse human rights.
Bureau Report
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