Irom Sharmila taken to AIIMS due to deteriorating condition

New Delhi: A retired Delhi Police officer told a court here 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 V K 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.

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.