Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)
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The judicial judgements
Manipur and the AFSPA
SC: Is AFSPA in Manipur eternal?
The Times of India, Jan 15 2016
Dhananjay Mahapatra
SC: Is AFSPA in Manipur eternal?
The Supreme Court asked the Manipur government how long the Army should be deployed in the state and allowed to enjoy unaccountable power under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The court had appointed a high-level panel headed by an ex-judge of the SC to inquire into allegations that the armed forces had carried out over 1,500 extra-judicial killings in the last over 30 years, and that police were refusing to file FIRs because of AFSPA.
AFSPA was imposed in Manipur on September 8, 1980 to tackle lawlessness created by four main insurgent groups. Petitions by NGO Extra-judicial Execution Victims Families Association of Manipur -filed through Babloo Loitongbam -and former director of Manipur health services, Th Suresh Singh, had sought the withdrawal of AFSPA.
After getting the report and hearing the petitions, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit told the state government, “ AFSPA was supposed to be a temporary measure. But it has been there for the last 35 years. Two generations have grown up under the presence of Army .“
Appearing for the Congress-led state government, senior advocate V Giri said AFSPA was still needed to maintain law and order.When AFSPA was imposed, there were four prominent insurgent groups; now, there are more than a dozen, he added. The bench said, “You mean to say that in 35 years of Army presence in the state, the situation has not improved to remove the disturbed area tag from the state? Has nothing changed on the law and order front for the last three decades?“
