Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), was passed on September 11, 1958 by the Parliament of India.[1] It conferred special powers upon armed forces in what the language of the act calls "disturbed areas" in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as the The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Specia l Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990.[2] According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is pro claimed as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to: "Fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any per son who is acting in contravention of any law" against "assembly of five or more persons" or possession of deadly weapons. To arrest without a warrant and with the use of "necessary" force anyone who has committed certain offenses or is suspected of having done so To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests. It gives Army officers legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecu tion, suit or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law. N or is the government's judgment on why an area is found to be "disturbed" subjec t to judicial review. It was withdrawn by the Manipur government in some of the constituencies in Augu st 2004 in spite of the Central government not favouring withdrawal of the act. In December 2006, responding to what he said were 'legitimate' grievances of the people of Manipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the Act would be amended to ensure it was 'humane' on the basis of the Jeevan Reddy Commission's report, which is believed to have recommended the Act's repeal.[3] The Act has been employed in the Indian administrated state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1990.[2] On 23 March 2009, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay asked India to repeal the AFSPA. She termed the law as "dated and colonial-era law that bre ach contemporary international human rights standards."[4][5] Violence has increased in the past two decades since enforcement of the Act[6]. The state has created a "Gallantry Awards" pool for the arms forces which are aw arded for elimination of insurgencies and conduction of operations. The term 'en counters' is used by the security forces to describe confrontations where it is deemed appropriate, under the provisions of the act, to employ violence.[6] Protests began in Kashmir valley on Sep 10, 2010, on the occasion of Eid and tur ned violent on Sep 11, the anniversary of the controversial act. Indian Goverenm ent is considering partial withdrawal of the act.