{"id":34953,"date":"2023-04-14T05:19:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T23:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34953"},"modified":"2025-04-20T20:12:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T14:42:37","slug":"what-is-armed-forces-special-powers-act-1958-afspa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-armed-forces-special-powers-act-1958-afspa\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA)?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the background of the present case?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Aftermath of killing<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 [AFSPA]<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA)?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Controversial provisions of AFSPA?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The department of Military Affairs under the Ministry of Defence has denied sanction to prosecute the 30 Army personnel.<\/li>\n<li>These Army personnel were allegedly found involved in the December 2021 firing incident in Nagaland\u2019s Oting village in which 14 civilians were killed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the background of the present case?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Army para commandos were lying in wait for militants in Nagaland\u2019s Mon district.\n<ul>\n<li>The commando team was deployed at a site between Tiru and Oting, about 100km from the Myanmar border.<\/li>\n<li>They apparently mistook the coal mine workers for their targets in the dark and started firing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>They shot and killed six villagers instead, all of them coal mine workers returning home in a van singing songs.<\/li>\n<li>Soon after, a village search party attacked the soldiers, leading to firing in which seven more civilians died. A soldier was also killed.<\/li>\n<li>Later, another civilian was killed in Mon, dominated by the <strong>Konyak tribe<\/strong>, when security forces repelled a mob attack on an Assam Rifles camp.\n<ul>\n<li>With a population of roughly 3 lakhs, the area inhabited by the Konyaks extends <u>into Arunachal Pradesh, with a sizeable population in Myanmar<\/u> as well.<\/li>\n<li>Known to be one of the fiercest warrior tribes in Nagaland, the <u>Konyaks were the last to give up the practice of head-hunting<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Mon is the only district in Nagaland where separatist group NSCN (IM) has not been able to set up base camps, largely due to resistance from the Konyaks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Aftermath of killing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Formation of enquiry commission<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Following the incident, which caused wide public outrage in Nagaland and the Northeast, the state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.<\/li>\n<li>Separately, the Army initiated an independent Court of Inquiry to investigate the incident.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Findings of SIT<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The SIT completed its investigation and, based on its findings, filed a chargesheet in May 2022 at the district and sessions court in Mon.<\/li>\n<li>It indicted all 30 personnel of the 21 Para SF team involved in the shooting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Need for sanction to prosecute from the Centre<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>These security personnel were operating in areas which are under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, there is need for the sanction of prosecution from the Centre for initiating any proceedings against security forces personnel for any actions taken by them while discharging their duties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 [AFSPA]<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>What is Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 [AFSPA]?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was enacted in 1958 to bring under control what the government of India considered <u>disturbed areas<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Enacted by Parliament in September 1958, AFSPA was first implemented in the Northeast, and then in Punjab.<\/li>\n<li>Under its provisions, the armed forces have been empowered to open fire; enter and search without warrant, and arrest any person who has committed a cognisable offence.<\/li>\n<li><u>Prosecution of the officer on duty needs prior permission of the Central Government<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Controversial provisions of AFSPA?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Section 3<\/strong> \u2013 It empowers the Centre to declare any area as Disturb Area without taking consent of the concerned state.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Section 4<\/strong> \u2013 Accords certain power to an authorised officer which also include power to open fire at any individual even if it results in death.\n<ul>\n<li>Under this section, the officer has also been given the power to (a) arrest without a warrant; and (b) seize and search without any warrant any premise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Section 7<\/strong> \u2013 It mandates prior executive permission from central or state authorities for prosecution of a member of the security forces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0Who are Konyak tribe?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Konyak tribe is a Naga ethnic group native to the Mon district of Nagaland, India, known for their elaborate tattoos, headhunting history, and traditional animist beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Who are para commandos of Indian Army?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Para Commandos are a special forces unit of the Indian Army trained in airborne, special operations, and counter-terrorism operations. They are also known as the Parachute Regiment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/north-east-india\/nagaland\/nagaland-civilian-killings-mod-denies-sanction-to-prosecute-30-armymen-8555344\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Nagaland civilian killings: MoD denies sanction to prosecute 30 Armymen<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/india-news\/defence-ministry-denies-legal-sanction-to-prosecute-30-army-personnel-in-nagaland-botched-operation-that-killed-13-civilians-angering-locals-nagaland-armybotchup-legalsanctiondenied-afspa-humanrights-101681412847872.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Hindustan Times<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/other-states\/shutdown-in-naga-areas-to-protest-army-operation\/article37861235.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under AFSPA, prosecution of the officer on duty needs prior permission of the Central Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}