Supreme Court right on AFSPA abuse in Manipur

While ordering an investigation — whose mode is to be determined — on Friday into allegedly more than 1,500 “extra-judicial killings” in Manipur in the past decade, the Supreme Court has come down hard on the state and the Centre, questioning some of the key principles under which the Indian state has operated.

The court’s refreshing order and its observations — while they may suffer from a lack of clarity on whether they are strictly in the context of Manipur (and not, say, also Kashmir) — are a veritable essay into the rights of Indian citizens even in places designated as a “disturbed area”, and the protection of citizens from excesses of the armed forces in such locations.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) applies to disturbed areas. This, of course, is needed. It is inconceivable how the security forces can take on armed opponents without legal protection. The AFSPA provides the forces the cover to kill without being dragged before the law for each act of killing in the way of legitimate duty, and provides the sanction or necessary judicial leeway in order that such killings may be deemed not to be murder as understood ordinarily.

But the two-judge bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit has been sensitive to the reality that the armed forces, including the Manipur police in this case, have acted without restraint and in a trigger-happy manner since 1958 when AFSPA was introduced in the state. The judgment, in fact, strongly notes that there is no “war-like situation” in Manipur, only an “internal disturbance”, as defined by the Constitution, and castigates the state government and the Centre for not finding ways to overcome the situation in as long as six decades.

After laying this down, the bench is quite categorical that “excessive force” must not be applied even when AFSPA is in operation and that retaliatory fire by the security forces must be distinguishable from instances of wanton brutality and application of disproportionate force. There are laws against the latter even in war between nations, the judges have pointed out. Significantly, they also note that armed forces personnel are liable to be prosecuted under the CrPC even when AFSPA is in operation, and this is well within the purview of the Army Act as well as CrPC — subject, of course, to the circumstances in which a killing may have occurred. Effectively, every civilian death is made subject to an enquiry. The apex court has ruled out the availability of a blanket cover for the forces when AFSPA is in operation.

It is, of course, arguable that the SC is not competent to judge whether a war-like situation prevails or just “internal disturbances”. Especially in today’s circumstances, parallels may be drawn between Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir.