Irom Sharmila Chanu Biography and Works.

Born on March 14, 1972, Irom Sharmila Chanu is also known as the Iron Lady of Manipur or “Menghoubi”.

She is a civil rights activist, a political activist, and a poet. She is called ‘the world’s longest hunger striker as she has refused food and water since November 3, 2000.

She is on a hunger strike repealing the Indian government to withdraw the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Power Act) from Manipur. Ten innocent people were mowed down by security forces in a village near Imphal Malom in November 2000. The perpetrators were protected under the AFSPA, which allowed the soldiers to indefinitely detain, shoot or even kill any citizen on suspicion of being a rebel.

The government arrested her and force-fed her through nasal tubes.

She has been arrested several times since she began her fast on charges of ‘attempt to commit suicide’ and released after the completion of a year’s sentence since Section 309 of the IPC says a person who attempts to commit suicide is punishable with simple imprisonment for a term.

Veteran Gandhian, Anna Hazare also invited Sharmila to join his recent agitation against corruption.

Trivia

Sharmila was nominated to Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 by a Guwahati-base woman’s organization, the North-East Network.