After a slew of petitions opposing her marriage proposal with a British national, social activist Irom Sharmila (45) on Wednesday said that three of the witnesses for the inter-religious marriage proposal were threatened.
“I don’t know why they are scared about our marriage. It is a private life of two persons,” she said while addressing the media here on the sidelines of a seminar on freedom of expression in support to documentary film producer, Divya Bharati, who faced threats for ‘Kakkoos’ a documentary on the plight of manual scavenging.
“Whether [we get] married or not, we will live together in the house in Kodaikanal,” she said. Her marriage with British national, Desmond Coutinho, was slated for August 16. They had filed their marriage papers with the Sub-Registrar’s office in Kodaikanal, where she had settled down recently.
To a question, she said that the opposition to her marriage had puzzled her. “I don’t know what kind of threat a marriage of two persons could pose to the beautiful State,” she said.
Ms. Sharmila, known as Iron Lady, said that she would not be cowed down by the threats. “We are all mortals. I am not bothered by life and death. I will sacrifice my life for the sake of humanity,” she said.
‘Centre, State shamed’
The human rights activist said that both the Centre and the State governments were shamed by ‘Kakkoos’ as it reflected the failure of the governments in prohibiting manual scavenging and rehabilitating these workers.
The promise made by Dr. Ambedkar to abolish untouchability could be fulfilled only when manual scavenging was totally prohibited and those workers are rehabilitated. “The government wanted to ban the film and arrest the director on trumped up charges. When that failed to break her spirit, they used stooges to threaten her with rape and murder,” she said.
“I am now writing a poem on Kakkoos,” Ms. Sharmila said and vouched to support Divya Bharathi and said the film maker would be invited to stand beside her on her wedding day.