Irom Chanu Sharmila - the Iron Lady of Manipur with a steely grit

INCREDIBLE WOMEN OF INDIA

Sharmila's iconic and historic hunger strike had commenced on 5 November 2000 after the Malom Massacre. She had demanded the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 in her state that granted the Indian Armed Forces the power to search properties without a warrant and arrest people. The Draconian Act also licensed the use of brute force against any person who might be (perceived as a likely suspect) working against the state's interests. 

Irom Chanu Sharmila, an Indian civil rights activist, political activist and poet was born on 14 March 1972. Sharmila's father Irom C Nanda and her mother Irom Ongbi Sakhi raised her in Manipur.

Like most people of the state, she grew up with a strong sense of loyalty and devotion to the land. She actively engaged with various social causes during her college days and got involved in rallies to protest against the violation of civil rights. She diligently participated in various communities such as the Centre for Organisation Research and Education, the All-Manipur Students' Union for Sightless , Human Rights Alert and many more.

It was 2000, when Irom Sharmila took a drastic and unprecedented step (uninterrupted hunger strike) that catapulted her to the league of the world's biggest and most firebrand civil rights activists. The trigger was an incident that took place in Malom (which is known as Malom Massacre) where 10 innocent civilians were accidentally killed by Assam Rifles.

Sharmila had constantly been sending written pleas for intervention to the then Prime Minister and Home Minister. She won the support of Shirin Ebadi, a Noble Laureate, who guaranteed Sharmila to present her cause at the UN Human Right's Council. She was also successful in securing the support of Anna Hazare, who had captured the nation's attention in his fight against corruption, after writing a heartfelt letter to him in 2011.

Sharmila's iconic and historic hunger strike had commenced on 5 November 2000 after the Malom Massacre. She had demanded the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 in her state that granted the Indian Armed Forces the power to search properties without a warrant and arrest people. The Draconian Act also licensed the use of brute force against any person who might be (perceived as a likely suspect) working against the state's interests.

She ended her hunger strike on 9 August 2016 that culminated in 16 long years of uninterrupted fasting. On International Women's Day, 2014 an MSN Poll incidentally voted her as the top woman icon of India.

Her historic protest has not only garnered international attention but also fetched her many awards and honours. In 2007, she was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is essentially an award conferred to "an outstanding person or group". She shared this award with an organization named People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights. Irom Sharmila is also popularly known as Mengoubi (the fair one) in Manipur for her pronounced stance in terms of fairness and justice in all social and political spheres.

In 2009 , she received the first Mayilamma Award of the Mayilamma Foundation for achievement of her non-violent struggle in Manipur. In the same year, Deepti Priya Mehrotra presented a moving portrait of Irom Chanu Sharmila in her book Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur. The book traces the background of Manipur's history.

She also won an achievement award from the Asian Human Rights Commission, and the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management. She also received the Sarva Gunah Sampannah Award for peace and harmony from the Signature Training Centre in 2010 .

I shall continue my fight against AFSPA until and unless it is repealed but I will fight as a social activist- has been Chanu's undying motto.

Her powerful and exemplary protest has inspired millions. Her supporters are not just limited to Manipur for she is endorsed and idolised by people across the country and world. She is a living icon in terms of upholding the rights of the land.

On 17 August 2017, Sharmila married Desmond Anthony Bellarnine Coutinho, a Goa-based British citizen, who had written a letter to her in 2009 after reading about her struggle. Consequently, they had remained in touch through letters and gifts. On 12 May 2019, she gave birth to twin daughters, named Nix Shakti and Autumn Tara (at the age of 47) in Bengaluru.

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