Partial rollback of AFSPA                                   

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Context: Naga People’s Front, in the Manipur government has come out against the partial roll-back of the controversial AFSPA act and demanded that it be withdrawn altogether.

More about news:

• Movements by locals are demanding scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, which empowers security forces with powers to arrest without warrants, search premises and to fire after warning.
• The killing of fourteen civilians by security forces in a series of firings in Mon district of Nagaland over December 4-5 in a botched anti-militancy operation, reignited decades old demands for removal of the AFSPA.
• Manipur too has a long history of anti-AFSPA protests with the longest known hunger strike against the act being undertaken by Irom Sharmila for a period of 16 years till 2016, during which she was force-fed in a hospital after being detained.
• Partial roll-back of the act is a welcome “beginning”, but said the demand is for removal of the Act was from the whole state and not specified areas.
• Withdrawal from specific areas would “divide the people into two grades”, one section being those who live in areas under these few police stations where AFSPA has been withdrawn and others (the majority) who live outside the jurisdiction of these police stations.
• AFSPA has been withdrawn from selected, mostly urban police stations, these areas are in Manipur plains which is dominated by Meiteis.
• No relaxation has been given to Naga or Kuki dominated districts

Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)

• The Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance of 1942was enacted by the British colonial government on 15 August 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement.
  • After Independence, the Ordinance was imposed by the Indian government to deal with the internal security situation which emerged due to the Partition of India.
• Article 355 of the Constitution of India confers power to the Central Government to protect every state from internal disturbance.
• Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was enacted by the Parliament in 1958.
• The Act Provides special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to preserve public order in "disturbed areas". AFSPA is to be enacted only when a state, or part of it, is declared as a 'disturbed area'.
• According to the act, once an area is declared as 'disturbed', it remains under the category for a minimum of 6 months.
• In the late 1960s, it was 1st made applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam.
  • One by one, it expanded to the parts of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• In 1983, the law was extended to Punjab and Chandigarh, but it was withdrawn in 1997.
• In 1990, it was applied to Jammu and Kashmir.

Special Powers under AFSPA:

 According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is announced as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to:

• Arrest anyone without a warrant and may use force if needed for the arrest.
• If a person acts against law or order in the disturbed area, then army personnel are allowed to Fire after giving a warning or use other kinds of force even if it causes death.
• Enter and search any area or shelter in order to make arrests, they also have the power to destroy that area or shelter.
• Power to stop and search any vehicle or vessel.
• Any person arrested and taken into custody shall be handed over to the officer in charge of the nearest police station.
• Army officers have legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecution or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law.
• The Government's Power to declare an area as a ‘disturbed area’ is not under judicial review.

Present Status

• The Act was amended in 1972 and the powers to declare an area as a “disturbed area” were granted to the Central government along with the States.
• For only Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the Union Home Ministry issues a “disturbed area” notification to extend AFSPA.
• The notification for Manipur and Assam is issued by the State governments.
• Tripura revoked the Act in 2015 and Meghalaya revoked it in 2018.
• Jammu and Kashmir have had a separate Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1990.
• In 2016, the Supreme Court of India ended the immunity of the armed forces from prosecution under AFSPA.

Arguments in the support of AFSPA

• Neither the soldiers nor their superiors have any training in civilian law or policing procedures. That is why a special law like AFSPA needed to legitimize the presence and acts of armed forces in extraordinary situations.
• Repealing the act will encourage insurgency, militancy and also threaten the peace and unity of the nation.
• The Army needs such powers because the army is only deployed when national security is at serious risk. “Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures".

Arguments against AFSPA

• The act has been criticized for human rights violations in the regions of its enforcement. It provides immunity from human rights abuses and fuels cycles of violence.
• This law started a Vicious cycle of Violence in the North East: The use of the AFSPA drives the demand for more autonomy, giving the people of the North East more reason to secede from a state which enacted such powers and these agitations justify the use of the AFSPA from the point of view of the Indian Government.
• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958. It commented that its scrapping would remove sentiments of discrimination and alienation among the people of North-East India.

Way Forward

• The Supreme Court ruled that any encounter carried out by armed forces under AFSPA should be subjected to thorough inquiry.
• Supreme Court stated that "It does not matter whether the victim was a common person or a militant or a terrorist, nor does it matter whether the aggressor was a common person or the state. The law is identical for both and is equally applicable to both. This is the necessity of democracy and there is a requirement of protection of the rule of law and protecting individual liberties".
• In 2013, the Supreme Court created a committee under Santosh Hegde, the committee suggested making the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) more humane, and the security forces more accountable.

 https://theprint.in/india/demand-for-complete-roll-back-of-afspa-by-manipur-political-parties/898359/