Irom Chanu Sharmila claimed in a city court on Tuesday that she has been falsely implicated in a case of attempted suicide filed against her in 2006 while she was protesting against the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) at Jantar Mantar. In an emotional breakdown in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House Courts Akash Jain, Sharmila known as “Iron lady” told the court she was booked in the case by the police as her case was highlighted by the national and international media as well.
The court told Sharmila that it is evident that she sat at Jantar Mantar on fast-unto-death protest and refused to get her medical checkup done. To which, she replied, “It is correct that I sat on fast at Jantar Mantar but I have been fasting since the year 2000 and the same has not affected my health and I never refused any medical checkup when required.”
“I started my struggle against AFSPA and came to Delhi and here my struggle was attaining interest of international media and because of that the police violated my fundamental right and forcibly removed me from Jantar Mantar,” she added.
“I have been demanding AFSPA to be lifted from Manipur as thousands of innocent people have been killed by armed forces,” she said. No action was taken under the garb of AFSPA, she told the court.
The court on March 4, 2013, framed charges against Sharmila, popularly known as “Iron lady”, for attempting to commit suicide, under Section 309 of the IPC and put her on trial after she refused to plead guilty of the offence.
Meanwhile, the Government of India in December 2014 also decided to repeal Section 309 (Attempt to suicide) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) from the statute book. The court on June 6 concluded the evidence of prosecution witnesses and now on Wednesday, Sharmila will file the list of defence witness.