Current Affairs 2022: AFSPA and its Implementation

Different groups of people showed their concern about the violation of human rights under AFSPA.

AFSPA act 1958 was passed in India to maintain peace, law and order in the disturbed areas of India. At present, the act is effective in Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. AFSPA was effective in Punjab in 1983 and was withdrawn in 1997. After 14 years in 1990, the act was applied to Jammu and Kashmir. 

From the moment the law was passed, it is being criticised. Different groups of people showed their concern about the violation of human rights. For the same reason, it was demanded by some politicians to revoke the act but many have not been in favour of the revocation.  

Powers to Armed Forces under AFSPA

Under the AFSPA, an armed forces office could use force or fire against someone, who violates the law or who disrupts the law and order of a particular region. Armed forces personnel have the authority to destroy any ammunition for antisocial activity. They are also authorised to destroy any position, shelter, or training establishment, which may be harmful to society or the nation. AFSPA allows armed forces to arrest an individual without any warrant based on doubt, enter premises and search the same without any prior notice or information. The Armed Forces have all the right to stop any suspicious vehicle and search the same. If they find any person suspicious they can take the suspect to the nearest police station with a clear report of the circumstances. Army officers have been given absolute legal immunity for every required action. 

As said above, the act has faced extreme criticism but some authentic views support the AFSPA act. It says AFSPA should be implemented only when the normal law and order proves to be incapable to deal with critical situations. It should be implemented when police alone are not sufficient to control the terrorist or to maintain the regional integrity. The act is required because the army needs a special authority to handle domestic and foreign terrorists and antisocial elements. The absence of AFSPA would make the army less effective in disturbed and critical areas that are highly prone to militancy. 

Arguments in favour of AFSPA

As the authority is given to the armed forces to safeguard the nation effectively, the absence of AFSPA would not allow the armed forces to hit insurgency effectively and it would be easy for the insurgents to step inside, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast region of the country. This act has played a vital role in boosting the morale of the Indian Army. 

Arguments against AFSPA

There are several incidents when extreme authority has been given to the armed forces and the same has been misused. Some highly sensitive and harsh allegations have been made against the armed forces like conducting fake encounters and sexual exploitations in the disturbed regions. The armed forces have also been accused of violating human rights in the shade of the AFSPA. Some people have made a comparison between ASFPA and the Rowlatt act of the British era. In the Rowlatt act also suspicious individuals can be arrested without any warrant just based on doubt.

As per various critics of AFSPA, a bullet is not the solution to the issue but the government should try ballet. AFSPA would have controlled the situation in the areas if implementing this act would have been the appropriate solution. It's been sixty years since the implementation of the act, but the situation is either the same or sometimes has become worse. So, the state governments of the affected and disturbed areas along with the support of the central government should work to find out a better alternative to AFSPA. 

About The Author

Amit Kumar Sharma is an Assistant Professor at Lovely Professional University. With ten years of experience in teaching organisational behaviour and HRM, he has also conducted 13 faculty development programs at the school level and two management development programs at the industry level.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.