Irom Sharmila's release has once again put focus on extra-judicial deaths at hands of army in northeastern Indian state. Manipur, a northeastern state of India bordering Myanmar, has been embroiled with armed insurgency and ethnic conflict for the past four decades.
The Indian government imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in to deal with the armed rebellion, in what the government calls "a disturbed area".
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which is also applied in India-administered Kashmir, gives security forces the power to detain and arrest anybody on mere suspicion, enter and search without warrants. The armed forces are exempt from any investigation or prosecution under the law that many human rights activists dub draconian.
Under this Act, several human rights violations such as fake encounters, torture, sexual abuse and enforced disappearances committed by Indian armed forces have come to light. She was released from a prison hospital in Manipur on August 20 where doctors had force fed her to keep her alive. She was charged with the attempt to commit suicide, which is a crime under Indian law. My battle against injustice and crimes committed by the army in Manipur will continue," Sharmila told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
In , following the rape and murder of a young woman named Thangjam Manorama, widespread protests took place in the northeastern Indian state. In January last year, the Supreme Court appointed a commission to make inquiries into these allegations after a public interest litigation was filed listing 1, people as victims of this draconian law. Six cases were pulled up at random and investigated, all of which were found to be fake encounters. A daughter pieces together the details of her father's escape from war in Bosnia, and finds a tunnel between them.
Billions of dollars in illegal and unregulated fish supplies are mixed with legal catches and smuggled into the market. Al Jazeera read all pages of 'the deal of the century', comparing its language with years of failed agreements. Toggle navigation. In Pictures: Manipur's 'custodial killings' Irom Sharmila's release has once again put focus on extra-judicial deaths at hands of army in northeastern Indian state.
Gangarani Kongkhang, 38, is a visually-impaired woman whose husband Deban Kongkhang was killed after a hail of bullets were fired into the van he was driving, allegedly by the Thoubal District Police Commandos at Patpan Lamkhai in Imphal. The government vowed to punish the perpetrators. She was promised a government job and financial compensation but six years later she has received nothing. She lives on handouts and takes care of her two children aged seven and She filed a police complaint but gave up the case because she feared repercussions and worries about the safety of her four school-going children.
I would wander off and find myself in the fields or in the crematorium. My family members and neighbours had to keep an eye on me," she told Al Jazeera.
She was released on Wednesday. Manorama was picked up on July 9, by the 17th Assam Rifles. She was found raped and murdered with bullet wounds on her genitalia the next day near her home in Ngariyan Maring. Her death sparked widespread protests in Manipur and other parts of India. His is one of the cases concluded to be a fake encounter by a commission appointed by the Supreme Court. Irom Sharmila waits in her ambulance on July 7 as armed guards stand by outside the Appellate Court in Lamphel.
She began her fast on November 2, when 10 civilians were killed at a bus stop by the Assam Rifles in the Malom district near Imphal airport. EEVFAM provides support and counsels families in dealing with the loss of their husbands and sons and in dealing with the stigma of their family members being labeled as underground rebels. On January 24, , Soraishem Joy, 40, was picked up from his home by Assam Rifles soldiers and was blindfolded and beaten in an open field and waterboarded at their camp in Patsoi, near Imphal.
He was forced to sign a blank piece of paper and was later thrown in jail for six days after which he was released because villagers protested and pleaded his innocence. I have done nothing wrong," he says. Flowers are placed in front of portraits of men who were victims of extrajudicial killings.
He was allegedly shot by the Assam Rifles in the Ukhrul district in Manipur. Neena Ningombam, 33, lost her husband Michael Nongmaithem in Michael was accused by the police of being a rebel and was allegedly shot for trying to escape. She has two sons, aged six and Roni, 30, with her nine-year-old son Mutum Mir. Her husband Mutum Herojit, 38, was killed in an encounter on October 13, I want to tell the government that this killing should stop or else Manipur will become a state of widows," she told Al Jazeera.
Human Rights Asia India. Have your say. Give us feedback. Sign up for our Newsletter. War stories: A Bosnian-American retraces her father's footsteps A daughter pieces together the details of her father's escape from war in Bosnia, and finds a tunnel between them. How 'dark fishing' sails below the radar to plunder the oceans Billions of dollars in illegal and unregulated fish supplies are mixed with legal catches and smuggled into the market.
Trump's Middle East plan: Decoding a century of failed deals Al Jazeera read all pages of 'the deal of the century', comparing its language with years of failed agreements.