From Romio Moirangthem.

1. Miss Manisha R. Khakre
Librarian, Arts, Commerce & Science College,
Arvi , Dist. Wardha, Maharashtra, India
E-mail ID- ms.manisha_khakre@rediffmail.com
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2. An Overview
Introduction
Brief history of Manipur
Power of AFSPA 1958
Irom Chanu Sharmila
Fake encounter Manipur
References
What is AFSPA act of 1958?
AFSPA implemented in MANIPUR
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3. MANIPUR
 The name Manipur means( 'Mani' -Jewel, 'Pur'- City or place ) “land of gems.”
 Manipur is a land surrounded by nine hills in the shape of a lotus flower, in the middle
lies the plane area where the people resides, is a state in Northeast India, with the city of
Imphal as its capital.
 Its economy centres on agriculture and forestry, and trade and cottage industries also
are important.
 Mr. Lord Irwin once called Manipur as the Switzerland of India and Jawaharlal Nehru as
the Jewel of India.
 It is bounded by Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south, and Assam to the west;
Burma (Myanmar) lies to its east.
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4. MANIPUR
 The state covers an area of 22,327 square kilometres (8,621 sq mi) and has a population
of almost 3 million, including the Meitei, who are the majority group in the state, Loi,
Kuki and Naga peoples, who speak a variety of Sino-Tibetan languages.
 It has long connected the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia and China,
enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.
 In 1981 AD, after the defeat of the Meiteis by the British in the Anglo-Manipuri war of
Khongjom, the sovereignty of Manipur which it had maintained for more than three
millenniums, was lost.
 It regained its freedom on 28 August 1947 AD. On 15 October 1949, Manipur was unified
with India.
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5. Manipur
The Indian National Army (INA) led by Subhash Chandra Bose was allied with the Japanese forces and
the Indian National flag was hoisted for the first time in the Indian subcontinent when
General Malik of the INA unfurled the flag in Moirang on 14 April 1944.
Japanese War Cemetry where the Second World War, in 1942 the battle fought at Imphal.
(Earl Louis Mountbatten described the battle fought at Imphal and Kohima as "probably one of the
greatest battles in history".) Loktak lake(the biggest lake and only fresh water lake in the North
East),Siroi Hills (a place in which the beautiful flower siroi lily is grown,this flower does not grow
on any other place except this place).
Manipur is famous for the famous animal Sanghai,this deer is available only in this state not any part of
the world.
Manipur, which existed as a Sovereign kingdom since 33 A.D. had been “forcibly” merged with the
Dominion of India as a third class state w.e.f. 15 October 1949 under a Merger Agreement signed
between Bodhchandra Singh, Maharaja of Manipur and Shri Vapal Pangunni Menon, Advisor to the
Government of India in the Ministry of States at Shillong Government House on 21 September 1949
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6. WHAT IS AFSPA ACT 1958
 Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA), are Acts of the Parliament of
India that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in what each act
terms "disturbed areas".
 It is effective in the whole of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur (excluding seven
assembly constituencies of Imphal) and parts of Arunachal Pradesh. The Centre
revoked it in Meghalaya on April 1, 2018. Earlier, the AFSPA was effective in a
20 km area along the Assam-Meghalaya border. In Arunachal Pradesh, the
impact of AFSPA was reduced to eight police stations instead of 16 police
stations and in Tirap, Longding and Changlang districts bordering Assam.
 Tripura withdrew the AFSPA in 2015. Jammu and Kashmir too has a similar Act.
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7. Historical Background
 The British had promulgated the Armed Forces Special Powers
Ordinance in 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement.
 On the lines of this ordinance, the Government of India
promulgated four ordinances in 1947 to deal with internal security
issues arising due to partition in Bengal, Assam, East Bengal and
United Provinces .
 These ordinances, which later became acts, were repealed in 1957
but a year later, re-enacted in Assam and Manipur as Armed forces
(Assam & Manipur) Special Powers Act 1958 due to growing
Naga insurgency. Gradually, the scope of the act was extended to
all seven states of North East.
 The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Bill was passed by both the
Houses of Parliament and it was approved by the President on
September 11, 1958. It became known as the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act, 1958.
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8. The Features of AFSPA
 The State or the Central Government have the power to demarcate an
area in the Indian Union as „disturbed‟.
 But under Section (3) of the Act, the opinion of the State Government
as to whether or not an area is „disturbed‟ can be overruled by the
governor or the centre.
 Section (3) of the AFSPAAct empowers the governor of the state or
Union territory to issue an official notification on The Gazette of India,
following which the centre has the authority to send in armed forces
for civilian aid.
 Once declared „disturbed‟, the region has to maintain status quo for a
minimum of three months, according to The Disturbed Areas (Special
Courts) Act, 1976.11/1/2018 8Romio Moirangthem

9. Powers of AFSPA
 The power to destroy the fortified positions, hide-outs and dumps of persons
deemed to be armed volunteers or armed gangs and wanted for an offence.
 The right to arrest without warrant any person who is suspected of having
committed a cognizable offence. Any kind of force may be used if needed during the
arrest.
 The authority to enter and search the premises, without a warrant, in order to make
arrests, recover any person wrongfully restrained, or to recover any arms,
ammunition or explosive substances and seize it.
 The right to stop and search a vehicle or a vessel suspected to be carrying weapons or
a person deemed to have broken the law.
 Army officers have legal immunity for their actions.
 The army officer has the power to protect persons acting in good faith under this Act
from prosecution, suit or other legal proceedings. Only the Central Government can
otherwise intervene.11/1/2018 9Romio Moirangthem

10. HOW AFSPA WAS IMPLEMENTED IN MANIPUR
 Manipur, like some other of the eight Upland states in the
northeast of India, has separatist movements that seek various
degrees of autonomy from India.
 Manipuri king was strong-armed into signing into the Indian
Union in 1949. The separatists want to reclaim that sovereignty.
 Due to the disturbance and insurgency in the state, the
Government of India promulgated the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act 1958 in Manipur State. Since 1980, the whole of
Manipur has been a “disturbed area”1 under the Act. Vide this
Act,2 the security forces have been given some extra powers so
as to operate against the insurgents in the disturbed areas.
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11. Fake encounter or genuine?
 On April 26, 1980, 25-year-old Irom Binodini was killed while feeding her daughter by
CRPF firing.
 On April 9, 2002, 18-year-old Asem Romajit was at a barber‟s shop in Pangei Bazar. He
was then fired on by the 121st and 134th Battalion of the CRPF and killed.
 On April 9, 2004, 27-year-old Konsam Amu was killed in Nongdam by the 12 Assam
Rifles. He was a former militant.
 As recently as November 15, 2008, 38-year-old Moirangthem Birba Singh was watching a
movie at Kakching Azad Talkies Hall. During the movie, he was arrested. And then he
was found dead.
 On December 13, 2008, 21-year-old Mohammed Liyaqat Ali went to participate in a
recruitment rally to join the Indian Reserve Battalion, conducted by the Manipur police.
He was killed at the Awa Ching foothill near Keirao Khunou, ironically by a combined
team of the Imphal East Police Commandos and 32 Assam Rifles.
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12. One of the most shocking custodial killing of a Manipuri village girl
 Thangjam Manorama Devi a 34-year-old Manipuri on July 10, 2004, a team of
17th Assam Rifles es allegedly reached the residence of Manorama home
in Imphal East District, suspected of being a member of the banned insurgent
group, the People‟s Liberation Army..
 Manorama‟s bullet-ridden body was found at around 5:30 a.m. on July 11, 2004
by villagers near Ngariyan Maring Road , about four kilometers from her house
with multiple gun shot injuries on her private parts and thighs.
 The Assam Rifles claimed she had been shot dead while trying to escape.
 A report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory found semen stains
on Manorama’s skirt suggesting that she may have been raped before her
death.
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13. Women give vent to naked fury in front of 17 ARKangla
 Scripting a sort of a history not only in the State but perhaps in the
entire country, a number of women folk, bared all in front of the
Western Gate of Kangla in capital imphal.
 Assam Rifles and 17 AR are housed, to lodge their protest against the
killing of Thangjam Manorama.
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14. Self-immolation: Pebam Chittaranjan dead
 On August 15, 2004, there was another attempt at self immolation.
 Pebam Chittaranjan, 28 had set himself on fire at Bishenpur, a district town, to
demand complete withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers
Act 1958 from Manipur..
 AFPSA was lifted from municipal areas of Imphal on a trial basis.
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15. Fake Encounters
 Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1958 and ruled that over 1,500 cases
of alleged fake encounters in Manipur, over the last 20 years.
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16. Irom Chanu Sharmila
She is know as "Iron Lady of Manipur".
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17. Irom Chanu Sharmila
 Irom Chanu Sharmila (born 14 March 1972), also known as the "Iron Lady" or
"Mengoubi" ("the fair one") is a civil rights activist, political activist, and poet
from the Indian state of Manipur.
 On 2 November 2000, in Malom, a town in the Imphal Valley of Manipur, ten
civilians were shot and killed while waiting at a bus stop. The incident, known as
the "Malom Massacre",was allegedly committed by the Assam Rifles.
 The victims included Leisangbam Ibetombi, a 62-yearold woman, and 18-year-
old Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Bravery Award winner.
 On 5November 2000, she began a hunger strike which she ended on 9 August
2016, after 16 years of fasting.
 Three days after she began her strike, she was arrested by the police and
charged with an "attempt to commit suicide“.
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18. Irom Chanu Sharmila
 Sharmila has been regularly released and re-arrested every year since her hunger
strike began.
 Her primary demand to the Indian government has been the repeal of the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
 Having refused food and water for more than 500 weeks, she has been called "the
world's longest hunger striker".
 On International Women‟s Day, 2014 she was voted the top woman icon of India
by MSN Poll.
 On 26 July 2016, Irom Sharmila, who had been on a hunger strike since 2000,
announced that she would end her fast on 9 August 2016.
 The objective of her fast and entering politics is to fight for the removal of
AFSPA as she has asserted "I will join politics and my fight will continue."
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19. International attention
 Sharmila was awarded the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is given to "an
outstanding person or group,active in the promotion and advocacy of Peace, Democracy and
Human Rights". She shared the award with Lenin Raghuvanshi of People's Vigilance
Committee on Human Rights, a northeastern Indian human rights organisation.
 In 2009, she was awarded the first Mayillama Award of the Mayilamma Foundation "for
achievement of her nonviolent struggle in Manipur".
 In 2010, she won a lifetime achievement award from the Asian Human Rights Commission.
 Later that year, she won the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of the Indian Institute of
Planning and Management, which came with a cash award of 5,100,000 rupees, and the
Sarva Gunah Sampannah "Award for Peace and Harmony" from the Signature Training
Centre.
 In 2013 Amnesty International declared her a Prisoner of conscience, and said she "is
being held solely for a peaceful expression of her beliefs."The influence made by Irom
Sharmila is often considered as powerful as the influences by personalities in the past
and present.11/1/2018 19Romio Moirangthem

20. AFSPA,Can it be Removed?
• Strengthen Criminal Justice System
• Strengthen Police intelligent, administration & investigation
• Improved economy condition
• Institutionalized dialogue, debate & discussion
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21. References
• "Iron Lady of Manipur “(http://dbvideos. divyabhaskar.co.in /trending/27581).
Divya Bhaskar. 10 August 2016. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20160814183049/ http://dbvideos.divyabhaskar.co.in/trending/27581) from the
original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016
• Mehrotra, Deepti Priya (2012). "The Making of an Activist". Burning Bright: Irom
Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur. Penguin Books India. ISBN
9788184751536
• "Insurgency In Manipur :: KanglaOnline ~ Your Gateway“
(http://www.kanglaonline.com /index.php ? template=ksh ow&kid=834).
Kanglaonline.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012
• Manipur(http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=200908305014
0300.htm&date=2009/08/30/&p rd=mag&), The Hindu, 30 August 2009
• . "India's Independent Weekly News Magazine“ (http://www.tehelka.com/story
_main42.asp?filename=Ne080809murder_in.asp). Tehelka. Retrieved 4 March
2012.
• "Manipur Fasting Woman Re-arrested" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7932116.stm).
BBC News. 9 March 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
• "Manipur Alliance for Child Rights (MACR) denounces : 20th apr12 ~ E-Pao!
Headlines" (http://e-pao.net/GP.as p?src=14..200412.apr12). E-pao.net. Retrieved
2012-10-21.
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