Two days after Irom Sharmila, aka Manipur’s ‘Iron lady’, gave birth to twins on Mother’s Day, 12 May, in Bengaluru, the first photographs of the newborn twin girls have surfaced.
Irom, her husband and her twin girls.
(Photo: Cloud 9 Malleshwaram)
Speaking with The Quint, Sharmila's husband Desmond Coutinho said,
“We are both overwhelmed with joy and exhaustion and very much appreciate being left together to bond in all the tiny private special moments.”
Married to Desmond Coutinho, the 47-year-old civil rights activist gave birth after 35 weeks of pregnancy via C-section at the Malleshwaram branch of the Cloudnine hospital, at 9:21 am on Sunday, Bangalore Mirror reported.
A spokesperson of Cloudnine Group of Hospitals said the mother and the babies will be released shortly.
Sharmila’s twins, named Nix Sakhi – after Sharmila’s mother – and Autumn Tara, weighed 2.16 and 2.15 kgs respectively at the time of the delivery.
“Delivering on Mother’s Day was a pure coincidence. It was not planned. They didn’t even realise the coincidence until I told them about it. We were planning to operate next week but Sharmila had to be rushed into the hospital on Saturday night due to early labour pains. She is a strong lady. We plan to discharge her by Tuesday or Wednesday.”Dr Sripada Vinekar, Obstetrician-Gynecologist to Bangalore Mirror
The activist and her husband settled in Kodaikanal after their marriage in 2017.
Irom Sharmila began a hunger strike when she was 28-years-old in year 2000, that lasted 16 years. She was already involved in campaigning for civil rights and participating in movements against human rights violations in Manipur.
She was spurred to non-violent protest after a massacre in Manipur’s Malom town killed ten civilians, including children and the aged.
(With inputs from Bangalore Mirror)
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