Armed Forces
Special Power Act:
In the eyes of a
Student
by Manas Daga [College of Legal Studies, UPES, Dehradun]
AFSPA, Armed Forces Special Power Act or ‘Right to Kill’ act. This act gives the complete autonomy to the
soldiers to kill someone just on the basis of suspicion. Even after more than 65 years of independence,
India has failed to germinate the seed of providing the basic fundamental rights such as right to life to the
entire citizen of the country.
The Armed Forced Special Power Act is an act which has empowered armed and paramilitary forces to deal
effectively in disturbed areas. “Disturbed areas” means an area which is declared to be a disturbed area for
the time being by the Governor of that State or by the Central Government. This act provides special legal
security in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and J
& K.
The Armed Forces Special Power Ordinance was promulgated by the British to suppress the Quit India
Movement and to put the eminent leaders behind the bars. In August 1947 both India and Pakistan taste
the flavor of freedom after the struggle of 200 years. But few years after the independence, Jawahar Lal
Nehru faced its first insurgency in Naga district in Assam state. In 1954, the Nagas began an insurgency for
their independence and Indian government responded to it by sending the thousands of military forces to
crush the rebellion. And this added fuel to the fire which led to the start of an intense cycle of violence. To
further stop the insurgency, the government brought the Armed Forces Special Power Act in 1958.
There is no shame in saying that till now India is not able to control the infiltration of its neighbouring
countries. Every day we see that number of militants and terrorists from China and Pakistan come in the
territory of India. The sole purpose of these persons is to hamper the peace and harmony of the state.
These people try to influence people to go against the government of India or set up training camp
for the purpose of teaching the students the methods of terrorism. They Teach the children how
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