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At a press conference in Delhi, India's Defense Minister A. K. Antony said that under decisive circumstances the armed forces require special laws to protect their rights. He sought to justify the Defense Ministry's objection to repealing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 and ending its application in various parts of India, particularly in Manipur state. What the minister conveniently ignored was the plight of thousands of people who are tortured, murdered and raped by the armed forces under the cover of this law.
In August 2006 I met Soibam Mithun, a young man aged 23 in Moreh, Manipur. He told me this story:
"I came here to give tuition to children after I finished 12th grade. On the night of July 21-22, 2006, I opened the door, hearing someone outside. I wanted to go out but my brother and mother held me back. Then an army officer stepped into the light. He asked all of us to step outside. As we came out, soldiers poured into the house. We were told to keep our hands raised while one pointed his rifle at us.
"The officers who went inside came out with some CDs. An arrest memo was produced. I did not see anyone preparing it. However, my name was on the memo and the underground organisation UNLF was also mentioned. I was beaten up and put into the army vehicle. My brother and mother protested, but no one heard them and an officer threatened that if they made more noise they would take my brother too. Still my brother did not stop shouting, but my mother was so scared that she covered my brother's mouth with her palm to keep him silent. I was thrown into the army vehicle.
"I was taken to the 24 Assam Rifles' camp in a Gypsy, an SUV commonly used by the army. At the army camp I was blindfolded and taken to a room. My legs and hands were tied. I was told to lie face up on a wooden cot. My legs were stretched and my underwear was removed. A wire was fixed to my testicles and they applied electric shocks. I had never suffered anything like that in the past. They hit me on the back of my head with a rifle butt. They accused me of being a UNLF cadre. I told them that I was not. The more I said I was not connected with any organization and that I was making a living by private tuition, the more they hit me and applied electric shocks. For a moment my blindfold was removed and I also saw others like me in the same room being tortured in a similar manner.
"The interrogation continued for a few hours, until 4 a.m. Later I was told to have some tea, but when the tea was brought they poured it onto my thigh: the scar is still there. In the morning I was told to sit in the sun and made to eat chilies. They also sprayed chili powder in my eyes. I could not urinate and they gave me some tablets, which they forced me to take and drink a lot of water. Still I could not urinate. Then an officer came and threatened me again. He asked lot of questions about whether I was associated with the UNLF. I repeated that I was not. They asked me, "Who fired the shells?" "Who killed the Subedar (an army rank)?" I said that I was in Imphal during the time of that incident, but they thought that I was lying.
"At about 4 p.m. I was blindfolded again. When the blindfold was removed I found that I was at the police station. I stayed there for a day and the next day was taken to Imphal where I was produced at the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court. I was remanded till the 27th and then was again produced before the court and released on bail the same day.
"I have no words to explain how I feel now. It is very difficult to put in words. One has to go through it to understand it. I am so scared of the army that I do not feel comfortable when an army person is traveling in the same bus with me. I find it difficult to go out of my house since on the road you meet soldiers. I still have problems with my testicles and with urinating. I am still undergoing treatment.
"I do not think I can live here anymore. I do not know what to do now. I want to end my life."
The defense minister of India does not know what people like Mithun have faced. All he knows are the "success" stories of the armed forces about which his secretaries brief him at his office.
The AFSPA is one of the worst pieces of legislation the Indian Parliament has ever passed. Under this law all security forces are allowed to operate under complete impunity once an area is declared disturbed. Even a non-commissioned officer is empowered to shoot to kill on mere suspicion that it is necessary to do so in order to "maintain the public order." Over the decades this law has claimed hundreds of lives.
The AFSPA contravenes all basic norms of both Indian and International law. The attorney general of India, in response to the United Nations Human Rights Committee's questions in 1991, used the same argument Antony as the defense minister posed to justify the continued use of this law. The attorney general said that even if the law contravened Article 4 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which India has ratified, it was required in the northeastern states, which were on a "war footing."
The continued use of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in India raises many questions. Has the use of the law improved the situation in any of the places it has been applied? Has it improved the morale of the armed forces? Has it reduced violence in these regions? Has the Act helped to bridge the gap between the local population and the government?
If the answer to all these questions is an emphatic NO, why should implementation of this law continue? The defense minister of India and the government he is part of owe their people an answer, particularly the victims of this law that people like Mithun represent.
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(Bijo Francis is a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)
