Civil rights activist Irom Sharmila gives birth to twin girls

Doctors at Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, where Sharmila gave birth on Mother's day, said the babies and the mother were in good health.

"It was a C-section (Caesarean) because there were twin babies...Children are very cute and are in good health," Dr Sripada Vinekar told PTI.

Sharmila was undergoing regular consultations at the hospital over the nine-months of her pregnancy.

Regional director of the Hospitals, Nitin Nag, in a release said "Twin-1 was born at 9.21 am with the birth weight of2.16 kg and Twin-2 was born at 9.22 am with a birth weight of 2.14 kg.

Parents have named the twins and Nix Shakhi and Autumn Tara. Both the babies and the mother are doing well."

The 46-year-old Sharmila, who conducted a 16-year hunger strike demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur, married her partner Desmond Anthony Bellarnine Coutinho, in 2017 at Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu.

Sharmila, popularly known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, ended the protest in 2016.

She had even contested the assembly election in 2017 against chief minister Ibobi Singh. However, she lost.