Select a date Select month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 Select a category Agriculture Bihar Votes For Its (and India’s) Future BUDGET 2014 Budget 2015: Modi’s Moment of Reckoning Budget 2016: The stories behind the numbers Chart of the Day Climate Change Cover Story Currency Chaos Development Education Elections 2014 Employment Fact Check Governance Newsletter Health homepage video Hunger India’s Great Challenge: Health & Sanitation IndiaSpend In The News IndiaSpend Interviews Industry Investigations Central State Latest Headlines Latest Reports Making Sense of Breaking News Modi’s Message: India’s States Reply Modi’s Report Card Mumbai Special Mumbai Special: The Revival Agenda Opinion – Videos Opinions Pollution Poverty Prime Time: India’s Grand Challenges Resources Central State Sectors Agriculture Defence Economy & Policy Education Health Infrastructure Snapshots States Central India Chattisgarh Madhya Pradesh EAST Bihar Jharkhand Orissa West Bengal NORTH Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir New Delhi Punjab Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand NORTH EAST Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura SOUTH Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu WEST Goa Gujarat Maharashtra Story In A Minute The Air We #Breathe The Road To Delhi: Elections 2015 The Transition: 2015-2016 Uncategorized Viznomics: A Quick Glance At Big Issues Welfare Women Women@Work Women@Work Search with Google

Ten days after a special law protecting army personnel from prosecution was promulgated in new areas of Arunachal Pradesh, 12 soldiers have been accused of groping and sexually harassing three women in the state’s most populous district.

The act raises fears of a new cycle of violence in Arunachal—previously witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir, and Manipur—where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is now in force in 12 of 14 districts declared “disturbed areas”, to help the army combat two major insurgent groups.

Of the 38 requests made to the Centre for prosecution of army personnel between 1991 and 2015, none have been granted; 30 were rejected and eight are under review—one of these for more than two decades—according to an IndiaSpend review of data tabled before Parliament.

The 12 soldiers, as yet unidentified, were alleged to have descended on the village of Lower Taraso in Papumpare district on April 6, 2015, and invaded the home of Techi K, a widow, according to a report in The Arunachal Times.

“They barged into my bedroom. They did not say anything to me but ripped apart the mosquito net and started touching my face and other parts of the body,” Techi told The Arunachal Times.

The next invasion allegedly was in a married couple’s home. “We were sleeping when the Army entered our room and started to misbehave with my wife,” the woman’s husband said. “When I protested, they dragged me out of the house. There were 12 of them. They left our compound laughing.”

The local police have started investigations after filing first information reports.

AFSPA was previously only in use in three eastern Arunachal districts (Tirap, Changlang and Longding) that share a 20-km border with Assam and Myanmar, both home to a variety of insurgents.

Protests broke out and resentment was apparent in Arunachal after the special law was announced.

A sit-in against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act outside the District Collector’s office, Pasighat. Image Credit: The Arunachal Times

“In the capital (Delhi), a two-star general does not even travel with a PSO (personal security officer). But in AFSPA areas, a captain travels with sirens blazing and an escort vehicle following it (sic) full speed even when he returns from an evening drinking party,” wrote Joseph Kuba, regional director of the Indira Gandhi National Open University in the Eastern Sentinel. “The AFSPA only turns the back of the jawans to the enemy. Haven’t we learnt any lessons from the shameful 1960s?”

That is an analogy others used, a reference to the fact that AFSPA would turn the army’s attention inward instead of outwards toward China. Takam Sanjay, a former member of Parliament, called the imposition of AFSPA “the second blunder after the 1962 war”.

There were protests in Itanagar, Arunachal’s capital, by hundreds of students under the banner of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union.

Students in Itanagar protest the promulgation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to new areas of Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: The Arunachal Times

Prosecution pending—indefinitely: How AFSPA works

AFSPA empowers the governor of the state, or the central government, to declare any part of a state as “disturbed”, a region that requires the deployment of armed forces, as this note explains.

AFSPA protects security forces (army, central police forces and state police personnel) from investigation and murder charges in a variety of circumstances, arrest without a warrant and the destruction of property likely to be used as shelters by insurgents.

The sweeping powers that AFSPA grants are frequently criticised. Between 2010-2012, the Indian army received a total of 127 complaints for alleged custodial killings, torture and human rights violations according to data tabled in the Rajya Sabha. As many as 84% of these complaints were from the north-eastern states, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Source: Rajya Sabha

As we said, the Central government has never granted sanction for prosecution.

Data tabled in the Rajya Sabha revealed that of the eight pending requests for prosecution received between June 16, 1991, and February 24, 2015 the oldest, from J&K, is now 22 years old.

“The armed forces view is that AFSPA helps in counter-insurgency operations” said Namrata Goswami, research fellow at Delhi’s Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses. “However, the perception of the act in areas where it is imposed is not positive and local perceptions are what should matter in a democracy. So, if the act alienates the local base, it would only lead to more violence, as has been the case in Manipur.”

Why has AFSPA been expanded in Arunachal Pradesh?

Arunachal is often cited as a peaceful corner of India’s turbulent northeast, but it has lately been used as a haven by an array of insurgent groups from neighbouring states.

On 4 April, 2015, Three soldiers were killed and four others were injured in an ambush by suspected Naga militants in Tirap district in southern Arunachal Pradesh. This could be the immediate reason for AFSPA’s promulgation in the state.

Separatist groups, such as Assam’s National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) or NDFB (S), United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent), the ULFA (I) and the ULFA-Paresh Barua faction, have been using Arunachal Pradesh as a sanctuary and transit area to Myanmar, the home ministry has said.

“There is justification for (the) increase in security in the bordering districts of Arunachal Pradesh, vis-a-vis Assam,” said Goswami.

She pointed to infiltration attempts by the ULFA (I) faction led by Paresh Barua and the NDFB (S) into “bordering districts of Arunchal Pradesh in order to carry out attacks on Assam’s Sonitpur district, which has witnessed a rise in violence in recent months”.

She attributed their presence in Arunachal to police and military pressure in their traditional strongholds.

“Operation All Out”, as this offensive is called, is currently underway in Assam, forcing insurgents into quieter Arunachal Pradesh.

Where AFSPA isn’t in operation: India’s most-violent states

Since the army is not deployed there, AFSPA is not in operation in states wracked by the Maoist insurgency.

Yet, as the following data reveal, the maximum number of security forces have died in Chattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Over the last four years, 330 security force personnel have died in Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. That is 29% more than the northeast and J&K combined over the same period.

Source: South Asian Terrorism Portal Link 1 and Link 2, Lok Sabha/Data for 2011

Image Credit: Flickr/Joe Athialy



__________________________________________________________________________



“Liked this story? Indiaspend.com is a non-profit, and we depend on readers like you to drive our public-interest journalism efforts. Donate Rs 500; Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000.”