The Hindu : Front Page : Delhi police arrest Irom Sharmila

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Saturday, Oct 07, 2006
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Delhi police arrest Irom Sharmila

Special Correspondent

The fasting rights activist was taken to the AIIMS for urgent medical treatment

— Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Irom Chanu Sharmila, who is on fast, being taken by the Delhi police to hospital on Friday.

New Delhi: In a late night swoop on Friday, the Delhi police arrested human rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu, who is on a hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, from Jantar Mantar and took her to the All-India Institute for Medical Sciences for urgent medical treatment.

Ms. Sharmila, who arrived in the capital three days ago from Imphal, has not taken any food or water for the past six years in protest against AFSPA. She was being force-fed through a nasal drip in Imphal all this time but managed to come to Delhi undetected earlier this week. At the time of her arrest, her pulse was 47 — compared to the normal range of 60-80 — and she was running a temperature.

More than 100 police personnel arrested her even as Manipuri students and other supporters sang "We shall overcome."

"Her condition is critical and we have no option but to take her to hospital," a senior police officer from the Parliament Street police station told The Hindu . Ms. Sharmila was carefully placed on to a stretcher under medical supervision and taken to AIIMS in an ambulance.

No response

Even as Ms. Sharmila's her battle enters the sixth year, there seems to be no positive response from the powers that be.

Released from judicial custody in Manipur on October 3 (she was charged with attempting suicide), she shifted base to Jantar Mantar here, hoping to be heard.

Concerned about the money that the Government was spending to keep her alive, Ms. Sharmila said: "I am concerned that they keep arresting me without really reaching a decision. Life and death is in the hands of God. But my position is clear. I will not back out. Truth will triumph, no matter whether the struggle is long or short."

After a delegation of civil society groups called on him, Manipur Chief Minister O. Ibobi Singh met Ms. Sharmila late on Friday.

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