Irom Sharmila coming out of JNIMS security ward after her release in Imphal on Wednesday following a court order. (Press Trust of India)
Despite her release from detention, Manipur's rights activist Irom Chanu Sharmila's family is apprehensive that she might have to go back to hospital as she cannot survive fasting without being force-fed through nose.
"Her health is good now but how long can she last like this without being force-fed through nose? Her health will deteriorate in the next few days and then she will again have to be taken back to the same hospital room," Ms Sharmila's brother, Irom Singhajit, told PTI from Imphal.
He said their family is fully supporting her non-violent struggle against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act for which she has been on a fast for the last 14 years.
Having refused to take food and water all these years, she is forcibly nose-fed at a special ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital where she is under police detention.
A local court in Imphal had yesterday ordered the release of the civil rights activist after absolving her of the charge of attempt to commit suicide by means of fasting.
"This is a big moral victory for her but the demands are yet to be fulfilled. People of Manipur will now get the chance to be with her as she leads the fight in the open," Mr Singhajit said.
Ms Sharmila's long-time associate Babloo Loitongbam said they have been emphasising all along that the intention has never been to commit suicide.
"We now appeal to the government to not look at Sharmila as a problem but focus on the problems related with AFSPA," he said.