India Briefing on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

Amnesty International

SUMMARY

November 23, 2023

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) a law operative in “disturbed areas”, including large parts of the Northeast region of India and Jammu Kashmir, has facilitated grave human rights abuses, including extrajudicial execution, “disappearance”, rape and torture by bestowing sweeping powers on the armed forces in these areas.The Act violates non-derogable provisions of international human rights law, including the right to life, the right to remedy and the rights to be free from arbitrary deprivation of liberty and from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (ill-treatment) as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party since 1979, and other treaties and standards. Amnesty International welcomes the review of this Act by the Government of India and calls on the Government of India to repeal the AFSPA and ensure that all future legislation is in line with international human rights standards.

Topics: violation of the right to life, violation of the right to liberty and security of person, torture, ill-treatment and “disappearances”, violation of the right to remedy, an undeclared state of emergency for undefined reasons and for unlimited periods

Terms: March 1996 enforced disappearance of Jalil Andrabi, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), custodial rape, custodial torture, excessive use of force, mass human rights atrocities, legal impunity, extortion and killing of civilians, violation of habeas corpus, impunity, enforced disappearances,

ARTICLE PREVIEW

Amnesty International has also received reports of “disappearance” in Jammu and Kashmir. Although not permitted by the AFSPA, Amnesty International believes the sweeping powers bestowed on security forces by the Act and the culture of impunity it enables facilitates “disappearances”. The state government announced in February 2003 that a total of 3,744 people are missing in Kashmir. Local human rights groups have informed Amnesty International that “disappearances” in the state number between 8,000 and 10,000 persons.

Amnesty International calls on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 Review Committee to:

recommend that the Government of India repeal this Act.
recommend that the Government of India ensure that any future legislation complies fully with international human rights and humanitarian law treaties to which India is a state party, especially the ICCPR and the four Geneva Conventions, as well as takes into account more detailed standards including the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Principles for the Prevention of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions and the UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

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