The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is an act of the Parliament of India that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in "disturbed areas". According to the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976 once declared 'disturbed', the area has to maintain status quo for a minimum of 3 months. One such act passed on 11 September 1958 was applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam. In the following decades it spread, one by one, to the other Seven Sister States in India's northeast (at present, it is in force in the States of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur {excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area}, Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of the eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering the State of Assam). Another act passed in 1983, applicable to Punjab and Chandigarh, was withdrawn in 1997, roughly 14 years after it came to force. An act passed in 1990 was applied to Jammu and Kashmir and has been in force ever since.
The acts have received criticism from several sections for alleged human rights violations in the regions of its enforcement. National politicians like P. Chidambaram and Saifuddin Soz of Congress have advocated revocation of AFSPA, while some like Amarinder Singh are against its revocation.
Since 2022, forces in the northeast have seen significant scaledown of deployments. For the first time since 1954, no army unit of the size of brigade is being employed for the purpose of counter insurgency in the northeast. Now, the Assam Rifles looks after the same role, though some of the residual army units are moved to the border areas.
History The Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance of 1942 was promulgated by the British colonial government on 15 August 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement. Modeled on these lines, four ordinances—the Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the Assam Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the East Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the United provinces Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance were invoked by the Indian government to deal with the internal security situation in the country in 1947 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 (Assam and Manipur) Act, 1958 In 1951, the Naga National Council Nation'. There was a boycott of the first general election of 1952 which later extended to a boycott of government schools and officials. In order to deal with the situation, the Assam government imposed the Assam Maintenance of Public Order (Autonomous District) Act in the Naga Hills in 1953 and intensified police action against the rebels. When the situation worsened, Assam deployed the Assam Rifles in the Naga Hills and enacted the Assam Disturbed Areas Act of 1955, providing a legal framework for the paramilitary forces and the armed state police to combat insurgency in the region. But the Assam Rifles and the state armed police could not contain the Naga rebellion and the rebel Naga Nationalist Council (NNC) formed a parallel government "The Federal Government of Nagaland" on 23 March 1956. The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance 1958 was promulgated by the President Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 22 May 1958. It was replaced by the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 on 11 September 1958.
The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 empowered only the Governors of the States and the Administrators of the Union Territories to declare areas in the concerned State or the Union Territory as 'disturbed'. The reason for conferring such a power as per "Objects and Reasons'" appended to the Bill was that "Keeping in view the duty of the Union under Article 355 of the Constitution, interalia, to protect every State against internal disturbance, it is considered desirable that the Central government should also have power to declare areas as 'disturbed', to enable its armed forces to exercise the special powers". The territorial scope of the act also expanded to the seven states of the North-East - Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. In addition, the words "The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958" were substituted by "Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958", getting the acronym of AFSPA, 1958.
Recently the Tripura state government has decided to withdraw the controversial act, citing significant reduction in the extent of terrorist activities in the state. In June 2015, after review, the AFSPA in Nagaland state was extended by one more year.
In November 2016, Government of India has extended AFSPA in three districts of Arunachal Pradesh- Tirap, Changlang and Longding. The period has further been extended by another 6 months in above three districts of Arunachal Pradesh in April, 2018. These have been declared as "disturbed area" under Section 3 of the AFSPA. In these districts, Naga underground factions including National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) and NSCN (Khaplang) are involved in extortion, recruitment of locals, and rivalry.
The Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Act, 1983 The central government enacted the Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Act on 6 October 1983, repealing the Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Ordinance, 1983 to enable the central armed forces to operate in the state of Punjab and the union territory of Chandigarh. The act was enforced in the whole of Punjab and Chandigarh on 15 October 1983. The terms of the act broadly remained the same as that of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (Assam and Manipur) of 1972 except for two sections, which provided additional powers to the armed forces. Sub-section (e) was added to Section 4 stipulating that any vehicle can be stopped, searched and seized forcibly if it is suspected of carrying proclaimed offenders or ammunition. Section 5 was added to the act specifying that a soldier has the power to break open any locks "if the key thereof is withheld". The act was withdrawn in 1997, roughly 14 years after it came to force. However the Disturbed areas act was in force until 2012 in Chandigarh until the High Court struck it down.
The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990
The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 was enacted in September, 1990.Muzamil Jaleel for the Indian Express. 30 March 2015. Explained: AFSPA-Disturbed Areas debate in J&KThe Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990" Indian Ministry of Law and Justice Published by the Authority of New Deli
If the governor of Jammu and Kashmir or the Central Government, is of opinion that the whole or any part of the union territory is in such a disturbed and dangerous condition then this act can be imposed.
The act The Articles in the Constitution of India empower state governments to declare a state of emergency due to one or more of the following reasons: Failure of the administration and the local police to tackle local issues Return of (central) security forces leads to return of miscreants/erosion of the "peace dividend" The scale of unrest or instability in the state is too large for local forces to handle In such cases, it is the prerogative of the state government to call for central help. In most cases, for example during elections, when the local police may be stretched too thin to simultaneously handle day-to-day tasks, the central government obliges by sending in the BSF and the CRPF. Such cases do not come under the purview of AFSPA. AFSPA is confined to be enacted only when a state, or part of it, is declared a 'disturbed area'. Continued unrest, like in the cases of militancy and insurgency, and especially when borders are threatened, are situations where AFSPA is resorted to.
By Act 7 of 1972, the power to declare areas as being disturbed was extended to the central government.
In a civilian setting, soldiers have no legal tender, and are still bound to the same command chain as they would be in a war theater. Neither the soldiers nor their superiors have any training in civilian law or policing procedures. This is where and why the AFSPA comes to bear - to legitimize the presence and acts of armed forces in emergency situations which have been deemed warlike.
According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to: "The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990" Indian Ministry of Law and Justice Published by the Authority of New Deli After giving such due warning, Fire upon or use other kinds of force even if it causes death, against the person who is acting against law or order in the disturbed area for the maintenance of public order, Destroy any arms dump, hide-outs, prepared or fortified position or shelter or training camp from which armed attacks are made by the armed volunteers or armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence. To arrest without a warrant anyone who has committed cognizable offences or is reasonably suspected of having done so and may use force if needed for the arrest. To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests, or to recover any person wrongfully restrained or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances and seize it. Stop and search any vehicle or vessel reasonably suspected to be carrying such person or weapons. Any person arrested and taken into custody under this act shall be made present over to the officer in charge of the nearest police station with least possible delay, together with a report of the circumstances occasioning the arrest. Army officers have legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecution, suit or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law. Nor is the government's judgment on why an area is found to be disturbed subject to judicial review. Protection of persons acting in good faith under this act from prosecution, suit or other legal proceedings, except with the sanction of the Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by this act.
On 8 July 2016, in a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of India ended the immunity of the armed forces from prosecution under AFSPA, saying, in an 85-page judgement, "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 the same for both and is equally applicable to both ... This is the requirement of a democracy and the requirement of preservation of the rule of law and the preservation of individual liberties."
Areas where it is currently applicable
AFSPA now applicable fully only in 31 districts of 4 Northeast states and partially in 12 districts.
Jammu and Kashmir The Act is applicable in the entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Nagaland Chümoukedima District Dimapur District Kiphire District Mon District Niuland District Noklak District Peren District Phek District Areas falling within the jurisdiction of Yanglok Police Station in Longleng Zünheboto District (within the jurisdiction of police stations) Aghunato Police Station Ghatashi Police Station Pughoboto Police Station Satakha Police Station Suruhuto Police Station Zunheboto Police Station Kohima District (within the jurisdiction of police stations) Khuzama Police Station Kohima North Police Station Kohima South Police Station Zubza Police Station Kezocha Police Station Mokokchung District (within the jurisdiction of police stations) Mangkolemba Police Station