Revisiting Armed Forces (Special Power) Act in Manipur

AS Kingson & Ngalengshim Ngashangva *

AFSPA protest meeting at Mumbai in November 2009 :: Pix - Akee Sorok

The attacked on a convoy of 6 Dogra Regiment in Paraolon at Tengnoupal-New Somtal Road in Chandel District on 4th June 2015 and the consequent army operation on surrounding villages revitalized the early brutalities on civilian in the Hill areas of Manipur. The Valley areas too are not immune from drastic impact under army operation. The Armed Forces (Special Power) Act (AFSPA) was first enforced on April 1958 in Naga Hills in the Northeast. While, the militarization of this region had began during 1954 onwards where “… nearly two divisions of the army and thirty five battalions of the Assam Rifles or armed police were in operation in the Naga Hills and Tuensang Frontier Divisions and in the adjoining areas” (Mullick, 1972: 312). Subsequently, AFSPA was amended in 1972 under the name Armed Forces (Assam & Manipur) Special Powers Act, by which the Union Government can further extend jurisdiction of this Act in the entire Northeastern states. AFSPA is the only extraordinary law which has never been amended or partly repealed since its inception by the Union Government in 1958.

In Manipur, the transplantation of civilian rule by military regime caused plunders on the civil freedom, democratic practices and fundamental rights of the local populace. The heinous crimes of arson, rape, atrocities, arbitrary detention, torture and disappearances of civilians are not a new story and persistently happening in the hands of Security Forces. Manipur had experienced these evil atrocities since 1970s, while the legal mechanism, the rules, discipline and procedures to be followed by the Security Forces are never practiced.

Many innocent civilians throughout the state of Manipur are searched, tortured, arrested and killed on mere suspicion. When the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act was initially passed in the Lok Sabha in 1958, Inner Manipur INC MP Shri L. Achaw Singh had argued against the bill, “This is a black law... How can we imagine that these military officers should be allowed to shoot to kill and without warrant arrest and search? This is a lawless law”. Outer Manipur INC Hill MP Shri. Rungsung Suisa also argued against promulgation of AFSPA in Manipur and stated that, “All these Ordinances and sending of Armed Forces will not solve the problem”.

Some of the notable events was on 10th May, 1974, Manipur’s East District Women’ Association (EDWAM) (now Ukhrul District) submitted a Memorandum to Shrimati Indira Gandhi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, for taking stern action against those officers and others ranks of 95 BSF for their heinous crimes committed upon some Tangkhul Naga women in East District of Manipur. The Memo stated that “… For our tribal people, it is a sign of hospitality to attend on any outsider for their comfort. But these officers took advantage of our hospitality and innocence. Miss Rose was the most beautiful girl in her village Ngaimu … she was chosen for their desire. The crimes of these Officers were too much for her and she ended her life on 6 March 1974. She left letters to her dear ones before her death. But the most important letter was forcibly burnt by the BSF…”

The same Memo also stated that “One Miss Ngaishangla Grihang, about 23 years of age, was molested and beaten brutally on 3rd and 4th March. On the 5th she was tied up and brought inside a school room. Her garments were stripped off her and she was inhumanly molested, beaten and finally injurious weapons including one official stick were forcibly inserted into her privates…” Again on the evening of 6th March, at about 6.30 Mrs. Puthingla, Miss Shiningla and her father Shri Rinahan aged 64 were taken out of their residence by two constables under the order of Maj. Dhram Prakash. They were forced to walk away from their village and after walking about a mile, they were beaten up. After making Shri Rinahan unconscious, one of the constables took Mrs. Puthingla into the jungle from the main road. All her garments were forcibly taken off at the point of a gun and she was pulled by her hair, severely beaten and molested. After this inhuman episode, the other constable forcibly took Miss Shiningla and repeatedly did the same bitter episode...” (Memo to PM, 1974).

In one important case, which the National Human Right Commission had pursued since 1997 was a complaint received from the tribal Kuki Movement for Human Rights (KMHR), “alleging that a person (Changsam) had been kidnapped and subsequently murdered on 7 March 1997 by personnel of 32 Rashtriya Riffles in Churachandpur district of Manipur (NHRC, 2002-03:54). The Commission concluded that the injuries caused to the deceased appeared to have been the result of ‘close range firing’ on a vital part of the body rather than the result of close-firing in the dark when the deceased supposedly attempted to escape from the custody of the army.

“Upon considering the response received from the Ministry of Defence, the Commission concluded on 8 August 2002 that a sum of Rs. 1, 00,000 be paid to the next-of-kin of Changsam as monetary relief and issued a directive to that effect (NHRC: 54)”. Irom Sharmila, an iron lady of Manipur began her fast unto death on 2 November 2000 after an Assam Rifles unit killed 10 people in Malom town near Imphal. She was arrested on the charge of attempting suicide and was being forcibly fed till date. On 15 August 2004, Chittaranjan Mangang, a Manipur Students Federation (MSF) advisor attempted to self immolate and later died.

During counter insurgency operation, many civilian were killed in the cross fire between the army and armed groups. In many cases, the security forces abducted and tortured many civilians on the basis of mere suspect. Regular case of disappearance and death occur incessantly on the civilian populace more severe in the remote and border places where the areas are totally isolated from human rights organization and media coverage. Many cases went unreported in the hills. Sometimes, when the security forces conducted combing operation in village due to shootout between them and armed groups, the young youths especially the whole menfolk in the village had to flee to jungles and paddy fields with only a bare cloth on their body.

In the hills, the village Headmen (Khulakpas), Secretary (Mantris), Pastors, etc. are frequently interrogated and their house are search, raid, or ransack allegedly by the security forces. They are blame for supporting, nurturing and assisting the armed groups and held responsible for any presence of armed groups. Whenever an underground camp is set up in the forest of the village boundaries, the Khulakpas and Mantris are detained and subjected to heavy torture and sometimes disappeared or killed. After arresting a person and torturing, a memo prepared by security forces containing the circumstances which occasioned the arrest is signed by the victims under gun point which stated that no personal injury was committed. On July 23 2009, some police commandos surrounded and killed Chungkham Sanjit inside a pharmacy in Imphal and later bring out his dead body.

The present discourse on AFSPA provides that the Act should be repeal. If not it should be amended with human face. This Act “should be repeal” as the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee set up to review its provisions has recommended unambiguously. It has submitted 147-pages report in June 2005 to the Central Government. Acknowledging that the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the Act, the Committee said that judgment “is not an endorsement of the desirability or advisability of the Act”.

The Committee observed that the Act is a “symbol of oppression, an object of hate, an instrument of high-handedness and discrimination”. It balances this recommendation by noting that “the overwhelming desire of the overwhelming majority” of people in the Northeast is that “the Army should remain (though the Act should go)”. The draconian Act handed over from the British Raj was brought into force where the opposition is strongest in the latter state. Labeling wholly as a ‘disturbed’ area, the armed forces have had a free run under the cover of the Act, which empower them to arrest, search and shoot anyone based on mere suspicion.

The alleged rape and murder of Manorama Devi on 11 July 2004 in Manipur by the Assam Rifles Personnel as well as other incidents came in the backdrop of the structure of high-handedness and discrimination as it endangered in Northeast. The reliance on such Statute and Act to perpetuate state violence invites counter-violence and counter-productive in a region without which it should be doing much better. All this slow down the process of democratic empowerment and promotion of universal human values and dignity.