Armed forces Special Powers Act once again became a point of contention after Congress promised to review AFSPA in J&K in its manifesto for general elections 2019.

People of J&K have time and again heard a lot of AFSPA but few know what exactly is AFSPA,when was it enforced in J&K, what are its provisions and where it has been enforced except J&K.

When was it enforced in J&K?

Armed forces (J&K)special powers act was enacted in September 1990, since the scale of unrest in the state was too large for local forces to handle and return of central security forces would have led to return of miscreants and erosion of peace dividend.

Provisions of AFSPA?

Armed Forces special powers act gives freedom to armed forces to shoot to kill any person who is acting against law or order. It also gives freedom to security forces to search any house, premises or arrest any person without a warrant.

The main feature of the act is that armedforces have a legal immunity for all their actions which means that armed forces can’t be tried in any court or nolegal proceedings can be initiated against armed forces acting under AFSPA.

The provisions of AFSPA also states that Any person arrested by the security forces has to behanded over to the nearest Police station without any delay, however the definition of delay has not been provided which means a person can be produced at the nearest Police station even after 6 months of arrest by the armed forces.

Where in India AFSPA has been enforced?

There are 7 states in India where AFSPA has been enforcedi.e. J&K, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. AFSPAis in force in north eastern states since 1958. AFSPA was enforced in Tripura alongwith other north-eastern states but was withdrawn in June 2015 and in the past AFSPA was also enforced in Punjab and Chandigarh in 1983 and was withdrawn after 14 years in 1997.

Controversy and its Significance

Analysts have often said that AFSPA is in contravention with Fundamental Right to life which is given by Indian Constitution in Article 21as AFSPA gives freedom to armed to shoot to kill and also it is in contravention with Article 22 of Indian Constitution which gives protection against unlawful arrest or detention while AFSPA gives permission to arrest without warrant.

The main controversy surrounding AFSPA happened in November2, 2000 when 10 civilians were shot dead while waiting for a Bus in Manipur,which came to be known as “Malom Massacre”. Though there have been reports ofexcesses by security forces in Kashmir during the insurgency since 1990, there have no trials or convictions.

Since, the situation in Kashmir has only worsened in the recent months, Army and other forces are very sceptical aboutthe withdrawal of AFSPA as they have to fight the militants and their sympathisers all the time, and the militant sympathisers can easily be motivated to initiate false and frivolous cases against the armed forces.

However, to put the things in right perspective , the Supreme Court of India in its landmark Judgement on 8^th July 2016 ended the immunity of armed forces from prosecution and stated that the law is equal for an individual who may be an innocent person or a militant and the state ( Armedforces) so that no one becomes an aggressor which effectively means that those who are militants should be dealtwith an iron hand but at the same time innocent civilians should not be sacrificed or targeted for personal reasons by armed forces.