Sharmila refuses personal recognizance bond, sent to custody

Rights activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on a fast unto death since November 4, 2000 demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, on Tuesday rejected an offer for a personal recognizance bond for getting bail.

After her refusal, she was sent to judicial custody.

The law under which she is detained envisages keeping her for a year at one go, and she is released at the end of each year.

Sharmila is being held on charges of trying to commit suicide, which she has been vehemently denying.

On Tuesday, when the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal West, offered her the bail, she rejected it saying she does not agree with the charge levelled against her.

Last year, the district and sessions court in Imphal West had ruled that she was not guilty of attempting to commit suicide and ordered her release. However, within two days, she was rearrested since she continued her fast even after being released.

Coming out of the court, Sharmila told reporters that though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying that his government has taken up many developmental works, there were many drawbacks.

After she rejected the bail offer, she was taken to the security ward of J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal where she has been staying all these years.

Sharmila is scheduled to appear before the Patiala House Court in Delhi later this month.

Police had arrested her in Delhi in 2006 when she went there to sit on a fast at Jantar Mantar. She was also charged there with attempting to commit suicide.

Sharmila recently said she was disappointed by the way people had stopped supporting her cause and asked for a public opinion on whether people want her to stop the campaign.