The News Minute | December 11, 2014 | 05:30 pm IST The government on Wednesday announced that it had decided to remove section 309 from the Indian Penal Code, under which anyone attempting to commit suicide is punishable with a jail term of up to one year and a fine. The decision was made on the recommendation made by the Law Commission of India that attempt to suicide must be decriminalised, the home ministry told the Rajya Sabha Wednesday.The Home Ministry added saying "As law and order is the state subject, views of states/UTs were requested on the recommendations of the Law Commission. As many as "18 states and four Union Territory Administrations have supported that Section 309 of IPC may be deleted", the minister said.However, one state that seems to have been caught in a dilemma is Manipur, from where hails civil rights activist Irom Sharmila. Sharmila has been on an indefinite fast for 14 years demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Read: Anachronistic law that serves as double punishment: What the Law Commission said about Section 309In all these years she has been arrested 16 times under the section, states a report by The Telegraph. In the jail, the Manipur government has been force feeding her through the nose to keep her alive. But with the Centre deciding to do away with the entire section, the state is not sure what stand it will take on the government's decision. Sharmila will complete her present jail term in August 2015, and according to lawyers, after she is free next year the Manipur government could likely resort to other legal provisions to arrest her, if she continued with her hunger strike, states the report. "I cannot say exactly what the executive decision would be after the IPC section is officially withdrawn. Therefore, I cannot say what Sharmila's fate will be after the withdrawal of Section 309," a senior official of the law department told The Telegraph.