Imphal, Jan 30 : Irom Sharmila, who is being charged with attempt to suicide, is likely to miss appearance in Delhi’s Patiala House court on February 3 and 4 as Manipur authorities have failed to sanction travelling expenses for her and her team.
The home department of the Manipur government has failed to sanction Rs.1.40 lakh as the travelling expense for Sharmila and her team. In the past she missed some court appearances on the same ground.
As per jail manual, she has to be accompanied by police, jail and medical staff while travelling to Delhi.
She is undergoing trial under Section 309 of the IPC (attempt to commit suicide).
She is on fast unto death since November 4, 2000, demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.
It was imposed in Manipur on September 8, 1980 as the foreign trained insurgents got upperhand. One amicus curiae is representing her.
This act allows her detention for one year at one go and at the end of each year she is ritually released. But she is always rearrested as she continues her fast outside the jail.
After being released by the court of chief judicial magistrate, Imphal west, she rushed to Delhi on October 6, 2006 for carrying on the fast at Jantar Mantar.
All along she has been denying the charge of attempt to commit suicide.
She said, “I love my life and want to live. I am using fast as a weapon to achieve my goal”.
On January 22, 2015, the district and sessions court, Imphal west, ordered her release as she was found not guilty of the charge. However, later she was arrested on the same charge.
A. Romenkumar, a high court court advocate told IANS that the prosecution should file a petition for appeal or revision within three months of the court order. After expiry of this period the order reaches finality and becomes the rule of the law.
Under the circumstances, the arrest of Sharmila under the same charge is questionable.—IANS
This report is factually incorrect. The judicial magistrate first class released sharmila on 22 January 2015 on grounds of lack of evidence produced by the police to back that specific charge of arrest in August of attempt to commit suicide. She was then rearrested on 23 January 2015 and presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Imphal West which is a higher court. The main illegality began on 23 January 2016 when she was not released by the Chief Judicial Magistrate I E who had taken on her case. She has from then been held in prison without legal warrant as the maximum length of detention for any particular charge of IPC 309 is 365 days. So all the stuff about the Assam Prison Manual doesn’t apply. If she had been released as per law then she could have travelled on her own to Delhi to the trial there. So another illegality was the obstruction of the course of justice by Manipur Police. There are many minor illegalities as well but no scribe is reporting and only these disinformations regurgitated without analysis over the interweb.