Irom Shamila, an Indian humanitarian activist, has been freed after almost 14 years of being held captive in a hospital at Imphal, Manipur after being arrested for allegedly attempting to commit suicide. The activist has been held captive since November 2002.
The hospital-arrest has been lifted when the court has come to a decision that there is no basis for charging the activist with attempted suicide after Khaidem Mani, Shamila's lawyer, argued that fasting for a cause is not a crime and has never been a crime since Gandhi also used the same method to support a cause.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), was introduced in 1958 "to enable certain special powers to be conferred upon members of the armed forces in disturbed areas in the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura and the Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram" according to the law text.
Irom Shamila has been fasting to emphasize her demand to abolish the AFPSPA. She began her protest against a controversial law in the state of Manipur, India that bestowed extensive powers the Indian armed forces that reportedly caused the death of 10 civilians, the deaths that led Shamila to publicly stand for her cause through fasting.
In India, fasting is a form of connecting to the divine. It is said to control the mind and senses removing the spirit of lust, anger and passion, according to the India Heritage Research Foundation.
"I did not want people singing my glory, I want them to support my cause," the activist announced as she finally could speak her mind out through the media. Since, over the year she has been put to hospital arrest the police went on through the ball of releasing and re-arresting her for the same charge of attempted suicide.
Irom Shamila showed he passion and love for her grounds through fasting and she stood by it up until she was released from the said hospital. She proclaimed that she would continue the fast until her cause is upheld and the AFSA is overturned.
