AFSPA { Armed Force( Special Power) Act.}

The Armed Force (Special Powers) Act. (AFSPA) was passed in september 11,1958, by the Parliament of India. It was first applied to the North Eastern states of Assam and Manipur and was amended in 1972 to extend to all the seven states i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was later extended to Jammu and Kashimir as the Armed Forces ( Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990.

The AFSPA gives the armed forces wide powers to shoot, arrest and search, all the name of "aiding civil power." An officer is entitled to "fire upon or otherwise use forde, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area, prohibiting the assembly of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons of of fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances."

Contentions:- 

    The AFSPA becomes controversial law because of its certain provisions over which contentions raise among the civil society. Firstly, it makes no distinction between a peaceful gathering of five or more people and a mob. So, even innocents - who have no role in creating a situation that results in that region being called 'disturbed', also come under the purview of the law and become victim of it. Second, it gives Army officers legal immunity for their actions. Third, declaring an area as a 'disturbed area'. It is entirely on the central and the state governments to decide whether an area should be declared as 'disturbed' or not. 

It violates certain laws under which an individual gets legal immunity like Article 21 - Right to life, Artical 22-Protection against arrest and detention, CrPc, Military's Immunity / Lack of Remedies, The Army Act, States of Emergency. The AFSPA, by its form and in its application, also violates international laws viz. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the "UDHR"), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the"ICCPR"), the Convention Against Torture, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principals on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Exctra- legal and summary executions. 

It must be at a bare minimum complied with international law and Indian law standards. This means the powers to shoot to kill under section 4(a) must be unequivocally revoked. Arrested must be made with warrants. Section 5 should clearly state that persons arrested under the Act are to be handed over to the police within twenty-four hours. Section 6 should be completely repealed so that individuals who suffer abuses at the hands of the security forces may prosecute their abusers. Moreover, the definition of key phrases, especially " disturbed area" must be clarified. The declaration that an area is disturbed should not be left to the subjective opinion of the Central or State Government. It should have an objective standard which is judicially review-able.   All personnel acting in a law enforcement capacity should be trained according to the UN Code of Conduct for law enforcement personnel.

If the Indian Government truly believes that the only way to handle the governance of the disturbed states is through AFSPA then it must bring aforesaid reforms in the Act. So that it could address the human right violation cases effectively.