Meghalaya governor for scrapping of AFSPA
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy : TNN

Silchar, March 16 2013 : Meghalaya governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary on said that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which is in force in some states of the country including Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir, should be scrapped.

Mooshahary, a former director-general of the National Security Guards (NSG) and the Border Security Force (BSF), said AFSPA is gender-biased.

The Meghalaya governor's statement came at a time when five CRPF personnel were killed by Pakistani terrorists in a 'fidayeen' attack in Srinagar recently; the attack is set to put the demand for withdrawal of the controversial AFSPA in Jammu & Kashmir on the backburner.

"Provisions of AFSPA are against the spirit of the Indian Panel Code enshrined in the Constitution.

You can't arrest a woman after sunset and before sunrise under the IPC; however, armed with AFSPA, armed forces have made it a habit to deal with women in a different manner," Mooshahary said.

His remark assumed significance as Thangjam Manorama of Manipur was raped and murdered while in the custody of Assam Rifles in 2004 after she was picked up from her house at night by AR personnel.

The incident sparked off a violent agitation in Manipur following a nude protest by 12 elderly women in front of Kangla Fort in Imphal.

Inaugurating a national conference on 'Media and Women: Different Emerging Perspectives in the Way of Development', organised by the mass communication department of Assam University, Silchar, on Friday Mooshahary expressed his support for the recommendations of the Justice JS Verma Committee, set up to suggest ways to make rape laws stronger in the country in the wake of the gruesome gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi in December last year.

"Justice Verma Committee was against death penalty in rape cases.

I agree with this.

Death penalty can't solve any problem.

Death is a one-time punishment.

Instead, rape accused should suffer in jail till death.

The IPC should be amended on this line.

Also, the pronouncement of punishment should be quick," said the governor.

Mooshahary said abduction for ransom has become a "cottage industry" in the northeast despite the fact that the crime calls for death penalty under the provisions of the IPC.

Fear of death has failed to curb such crime in this part of the country; instead, it's flourishing over the years, he said.

"It's time to make changes in the definition of life imprisonment, which is barely 14 years or less, and make it an imprisonment till death," said the former NSG and BSF chief.

He said similar punishment should be meted out in cases of domestic violence, which is rampant in India, and goes unreported in most cases.

Chaired by the vice-chancellor of Assam University, Somnath Dasgupta, the keynote address was delivered by a teacher of the department of philosophy, Shubhra Nag, while the convener of the conference, GP Pandey, welcomed the delegates.

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