A retired Delhi Police officer on Thursday told a court that rights activist Irom Sharmila, facing trial for allegedly attempting suicide during her fast-unto-death here in 2006, was shifted to a hospital after her health condition had deteriorated during the fast.
Deposing as a prosecution witness, Delhi Police's retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) G L Mehta denied before Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain that Sharmila was falsely framed by the cops in the case.
"People who sit at Jantar Mantar enjoy their constitutional right. Police surveillance is there round the clock. It is wrong to suggest that it is Delhi Police's policy to remove every citizen from Jantar Mantar, who are enjoying their constitutional right, after 2 or 3 days of protest.
"It is wrong to suggest that due to the said policy, we filed a false case against the accused (Sharmila) and removed her on false ground from Jantar Mantar," Mehta said during his cross-examination by Sharmila's counsel VK Ohri.
Mehta said that during the night on October 6, 2006, he was present at Jantar Mantar where Sharmila was sitting on a hunger strike and he noticed that her medical condition was deteriorating after which he informed the police control room to get her admitted to a hospital. Initially, Sharmila and her supporters were refusing to go to the hospital but she agreed and she was taken to AIIMS, he said.
Apart from Mehta, the court also recorded the statements of Dr Prashant Sinha, who had medically examined Sharmila after she was admitted to AIIMS, Delhi Police's ASI Anang Pal Singh and Constable Bijender Singh in the case.
The court, after recording statements of the four witnesses, fixed the case for hearing on Friday. 41-year-old Sharmila, who is now under judicial custody, also appeared in the court with her nose tube in place in pursuance to the court's production warrant. She was brought before the court from Manipur amidst tight security.
A case was lodged against her in 2006 for allegedly attempting to commit suicide during her fast-unto-death here at Jantar Mantar.
Sharmila, who is on a fast for over 13 years in Manipur demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), had earlier told the court that she was very much eager to eat if she got the assurance that the "draconian" Act will be revoked. She had claimed that widespread discrimination was being done with the people from North East.
She had told the court that she never intended to commit suicide and it was just a protest against AFSPA.
On March 4 last year, the court had put Sharmila on trial after she had refused to plead guilty for the offence of attempting to commit suicide (section 309 of the IPC). If convicted, Sharmila, who is out on bail in this case, faces a maximum jail term of one year.
Popularly known as the 'Iron Lady', Sharmila, who has been on fast since 2000 and is fed through a nasal tube, had earlier told the court that her protest was non-violent. She had also rejected the charge that she had attempted suicide in 2006.
Her counsel had earlier told the court that Sharmila has already spent one year in judicial custody, which is the maximum sentence for the offence under section 309 of IPC.
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