Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, Jun 11:
A committee set up to review the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the North East has recommended its repeal and suggested the inclusion of some of its provision in another Act but the Centre is yet to take a decision on the panel's report one year after its submission.
The five-member committee headed by Justice (retd) B P Jeevan Reddy had recommended that certain provisions under AFSPA be incorporated in the Unlawful Activities Act to enable the armed forces to deal with special situations existing in some North Eastern States.
"Given the existing situation, the armed forces have to be given certain powers to handle insurgency.
The Government is considering the recommendations of the Committee and is yet to take a view on them," a senior official said today.
At present, AFSPA is in operation in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Tripura out of the seven States in the region.
The Committee was set up in the wake of widespread protests in Manipur over the rape and killing of Manorama Devi allegedly by Assam Rifles in 2004.It was established after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to reveiw the provisions of the Act after a meeting with leaders of Apunba Lup, which spearheaded the protests against the law.
Reddy submitted his report to Home Minister Shivraj Patil in June last year and it has been under the Government's consideration since then.
Under the Act, the armed forces can detain people without arrest warrants and are not required to produce them before a Court within 24 hours as mandated under the CrPC.