‘Iron Lady of Manipur’: World’s longest hunger strike ends

With a lick of some honey that was spooned onto her palm, human rights activist Irom Sharmila on Tuesday ended her 16-year hunger strike in India – the longest such fast in the world.

Sharmila, known as the “Iron lady of Manipur,” first smiled and then sobbed before she ate the honey in front of reporters in India’s northeastern Manipur state, finally free of the nasal tube that the government had used to force-feed her for more than a decade.

“I will never forget this moment,” she said.

The 2005 Nobel Prize nominee started her strike in 2000, after 10 civilians allegedly were killed by Indian soldiers in Manipur. She was protesting India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives sweeping powers to the military to search properties, detain suspects without warrants and even shoot on sight.

But she has finally relented, saying that she’ll focus on running for political office to effect change.

“I am the real embodiment of revolution, and I want to be the chief minister of Manipur,” she told reporters in the city of Imphal. “The foremost thing will be the removal of these draconian laws.”

Irom Sharmila started her hunger strike in 2000, after 10 civilians were killed in a shooting blamed on the Indian army in Manipur state. Here, she is greeted by supporters following her release from a hospital jail in Imphal, India's northeastern Manipur state, on August 20, 2014.

Sharmila breaks down in tears as she is finally released from a hospital jail in Imphal, India's northeastern Manipur state, on August 20, 2014.

Sharmila, also known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur," leaves after an appearance at the Patiala House Court in New Delhi on May 28, 2014.

Supporters of Sharmila shout slogans outside the New Delhi court where she made an appearance in March, 2013. The human rights activist rejected suicide charges put against her by the Delhi government.

Sharmila arrives at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi in March, 2013. The jailed activist was fed through her nose in the security ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Imphal, under a law that makes attempted suicide illegal.

Sharmila refused food and water to back her demand for the repeal of India's Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) because it gives sweeping powers to the military to search properties, detain suspects without warrants and shoot on sight.

Activists supporting the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) shout slogans in support of the rights activist during a protest in New Delhi in November, 2011.

Members of the Bangalore chapter of Manipuri Metei Association hold placards during a silent sit-in protest in support of Irom Sharmila. To prevent her death, Indian authorities force-fed the activist through a plastic drip.

Irom Chanu Sharmila was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Here, she is escorted by female police officers prior to a court appearance in New Delhi in May, 2007.

Sharmila is attended to by her supporters at a hunger strike protest in New Delhi in October 2006.

World's longest hunger strike to end

Prev Next

Had been in custody to prevent death

With her decision to eat willingly, Sharmila also earned her freedom. She had been in judicial custody at a hospital, following 14 arrests on the grounds that she was illegally trying to kill herself through the hunger strike.

Federal law makes attempted suicide illegal, so authorities force-fed her through a drip in her nose.

On Tuesday, she told a court of her intention to end the strike, so a judge released her on a bail of 10,000 Indian rupees ($149). She’ll remain at the hospital temporarily until an official court order comes through, Human Rights Alert Executive Director Babloo Ioitongbam said.

Sharmila said she intended to settle in an ashram, or religious center, rather than go home.

She had previously fought the attempted-suicide charge that kept her in custody. In 2014, her lawyer, Khaidem Mani, challenged it, citing the country’s history of hunger strikes.

In court that year, he referenced how Mahatma Gandhi used the same mode of protest during the nation’s independence struggle. He also argued that hunger strike was not a crime.

The magistrate ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove she was attempting to commit suicide. In doing so, he overturned a lower court’s attempt to put her on trial for attempted suicide.

After the court ordered her release, Sharmila resumed her hunger strike, according to her lawyer, and she was placed back into custody.

Supporters of Sharmila shout slogans outside the New Delhi court where she made an appearance in March 2013. The activist rejected suicide charges put against her by the Delhi government.

It is believed that she will campaign as an independent candidate in an election due to take place next year in Manipur, an impoverished, landlocked state in India’s remote northeastern belt.

For years, many Manipuri tribal communities have resisted the authority of Delhi, claiming they have suffered neglect from the central government. This disaffection has given rise to occasional outbreaks of violence.