Irom Sharmila breaks her fast in Manipur

From the archive record

After being on fast for nearly 16 years in protest against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Irom Sharmila ends her hunger strike. She tastes honey to symbolically end the fast. Every fortnight a 10 minute ambulance journey from Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Science Hospital would take her to the CJM court in Imphal West where the magistrate would routinely ask her whether she would break the hunger strike. Ms. Sharmila ended her fast exactly a month after the Supreme Court judgment questioned the immunity enjoyed by the security personnel under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) against criminal action for acts committed in disturbed areas. The apex court had said last month that there was no concept of “absolute immunity” from trial by a criminal court if