An Indian court Thursday reordered the release of a campaigner staging a hunger strike for more than 14 years to protest human rights abuses in the country’s remote northeast, her lawyer said.
Irom Sharmila, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur for her unwavering and non-violent protest, has spent years in judicial custody over her fast, intended to draw attention to abuses allegedly committed by the military.
The court in Manipur state capital Imphal struck down charges against Sharmila of attempting to commit suicide by fasting, said lawyer Khaidem Mani.
“The court has ordered the release of Irom Sharmila as the prosecution failed to prove the charges,” he said by phone.
The 42-year-old was expected to be released later today or tomorrow from a makeshift cell in a hospital, where she has been force fed via a nasal drip for years.
Sharmila was briefly freed last year after the court also set aside the charge, sparking celebrations from human rights activists and her family. But she vowed to continue her fast and was quickly rearrested after police slapped her with a fresh charge.
Supporters urged police to leave her alone this time, pointing to the junior home minister’s statements in December that the government would decriminalise attempted suicide.
“The judgement must end the farcical cycle of arrest and re-arrest that this brave activist has faced for so long,” Amnesty International programme director Shemeer Babu said.
“Authorities must (instead)… engage with the issues she is raising.”