Correspondent
IMPHAL, OCTOBER 28
[dropcap]H[/dropcap]uman Rights activist Irom Sharmila who has been on fast unto death since November 4, 2000 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 is likely to be produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House court, Delhi on Thursday, sources in Imphal said.
Sharmila who will be accompanied by at least four personnel including medical and police staffs, is likely to leave Imphal for the National capital by an Indian flight tomorrow, the source added. Manipur state government will take care of the expenses for her to and fro visit which costs more than Rs 1 lakh.
The local court here reportedly granted permission for her appearance in the court in Delhi. It may be mentioned that Sharmila is charged with attempting to commit suicide under IPC 309 and under this charge she can be detained for one year. But she was ritually released once in a year.She slipped to Delhi when she was ritually released in 2006 and continued her fast at Jantar Mantar. Delhi police arrested her and booked her under the same IPC and for which she has appear in the Patiala House from time to time, source added.
Sharmila began her fast in November 2000 to demand the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), after she witnessed paramilitary soldiers allegedly gun down 10 people at a bus stop near Imphal airport. Refusing any food or water to draw people’s attention to human rights abuses at the hands of security forces, she was arrested and sent to special ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (a sub-jail) at Imphal, where she was force-fed through a nasal drip since November 2000.
