Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act

About:

• The AFSPA will be extended for six months in nine districts — Dimapur, Niuland, Chumoukedima, Mon, Kiphire, Noklak, Phek, Peren, and Zunheboto — and 16 police stations areas in four other districts — Kohima, Mokokchung, Longleng, and Wokha of Nagaland.
• It has been extended in certain parts of five other districts of the two northeastern states to facilitate the armed forces to continue the anti-insurgency operations.

AFSPA: 

• It is a law which gives armed forces (Army, the Air Force and Central paramilitary forces) the special powers and immunity to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”. 
• When is it applied?It can be applied only after an area has been declared “disturbed” under section 2 of the act. 
• What is a Disturbed area? An area can be considered to be disturbed due to differences or disputes among different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities. 
• Who declares an area as disturbed? Section (3) of AFSPA empowers the governor of the state/Union territory to issue an official notification declaring the state or a region within as a “disturbed area”, after which the centre can decide whether to send in armed forces. 
• The ‘special powers’ of armed forces under Section 4 are: 
  • ‘Power to use force, including open fire’ at an individual if he violates laws which prohibit (a) the assembly of five or more persons; or (b) carrying of weapons. 
  • ‘power to arrest’ without a warrant; (Under section 5 the Armed Forces have to hand over the arrested person to the nearest Police Station “with the least possible delay”. 
  • ‘power to seize and search’ without any warrant any premise. 
• These armed forces are immune from prosecution unless Union Government provides sanction to the prosecuting agencies. 

Source : All India Radio

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