The story of Shaheed Jetin Das is one of glorious moments of India’s freedom struggle. The great revolutionary sacrificed his life for the motherland in 1929 at the Lahore jail after 63 days of hunger strike. He is the only person who died in the pre-independence era by fasting against the colonial rule. Jetin Das's struggle was a golden episode which shocked India and inspired millions of freedom fighters.
In a country were great persons like Jetin Das had sacrificed their soles to live independent ,a woman has been fasting for 10 years-not against any foreign power, but against the terror created by the country's own rule. The epic of Irom Sharmila-"the iron lady of Manipur" is one of the biggest struggles independent India has witnessed. On November 2, 2010 she completed 10 years of fasting in Imphal, the capital of North-Eastern state of Manipur.
Irom Sharmila is on hunger strike since 2000 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, 1958 from Manipur. She started her strike after the Assam Rifles troops shot dead 10 innocent people in Mallom near Manipur on November 1, 2000. In that incident, in which the victims included an 18 year old National Bravery Award winner was shot for the reason of an IED explosion by the militants, which left no causality. But the troops target was all innocent civilians who were at their homes and some others who were waiting for bus. For Irom Chanu Sharmila, who was 28 at that time it was the incident which took her towards the fight against the notorious law, AFSPA which protested such actions of the Armed Forces. Her struggle was not for any publicity, but for the supreme goal of repeal of AFSPA.
AFSPA, a law which gives the power for the Armed Forces members, even non commissioned officers, to use force which can cause death for mere suspicion towards any person and can be punished only with the approval of the centre if find guilty, a case which never happened. This law which is enacted in various areas of the country, mainly in Kashmir valley and Manipur was meant to suppress militancy. But over the years it is widely misused and resulted in numerous cases of fake encounter killings. It also lead to widespread human rights violations, including murder, rape, torture, etc., Many of these incidents occurred in broad daylight with witnesses, but the responsible were protected by the notorious law. People who lived under this law have leaded a life of misery and sufferings as in an enemy occupied territory.
Justice J.B.Jeevan Reddy commission, appointed to the enquiry of the gang rape and murder case of Manorama Devi, a Manipuri girl, in 2004 by the troops of Assam Rifles which lead widespread protest across the country, had recommended scraping the AFSPA, but government refused saying it will increase militant activities. But the Act continued to be against the innocent in many occasions after that also, like the case in which an innocent youth, Samjith was shot in a busy market area in Imphal in broad daylight, which was explained being an encounter. This incident was video graphed which clearly proved the innocence of the victim. But neither centre nor state didn’t take any action against the responsible, which encouraged them to go ahead with their actions against the people.
Sharmila is the lead in the struggle against AFSPA now. She is under arrest charged with section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of Indian Penal Code, IPC. As this section allow only one year’s custody, but each year she is arrested after release, since she continues the strike. For 10 years she has not eaten anything and is hospitalized and fed through nasogastric intubation with a deteriorating health in J.N.Hospital, Imphal, were her ward has been declared as a sub jail. She had taken her struggle once to Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi's Tomb, escaping to Delhi after one release. All her letters to the Centre including Prime minister and President has turned down without any action and she continues her struggle.
Over these years she has become the face of Human rights struggle in India and won international attention. She had won numerous awards for her struggle, which she donated for the well being of the people and declared her only aim is the repeal of AFSPA. As government refuses it she continues her war with hunger until victory is achieved or being dead as like Shaheed Jetin Das.
