Bijo Francis
There is only a finite difference between sense and nonsense, particularly when the context is regarding implementation of legislations. However, for some, this finite distinction, is the difference between life and death.
In a press conference held in Delhi, the Defense Minister of India, A. K. Antony said that in decisive circumstances the armed forces require special laws to protect their rights. The response was in justification to the defense ministry’s objection in repealing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) and its application in various parts of India, particularly in India’s northeastern state of Manipur. What the minister conveniently forgot was the plight of thousands of people who are tortured, murdered and raped by the armed forces under the cover of this law.
Soibam Mithun, is a young man aged 23, from the town of Moreh, in Manipur. He told me his story -- a harrowing account of torture he faced at the hands of the Indian armed forces, acting under AFSPA, in this extremely sensitive Indian state.
“I came to Moreh to tutor children after I finished my 12th grade in school. On the night of July 21, 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 stay with our hands raised while one pointed his rifle at us.
The officers who went inside came out with some compact discs. An arrest memo was produced which I did not see anyone preparing. However, my name was mentioned on the memo along with that of the underground insurgent group - United National Liberation Front (UNLF). I was beaten up and later thrown into an SUV vehicle commonly used by the army. My brother and mother protested, but no one heard them and an officer threatened that if they made more noise then they would take my brother too. Still my brother did not stop shouting. My mother was so scared that she held her palm across my brother’s mouth to keep him silent.
I was taken to the 24 Assam Rifles’ camp. There, I was blindfolded and taken to a room. My legs and hands were tied and I was told to lie face up on a wooden cot. My legs were stretched and my underwear was removed. Then, a wire was tied to my testicles and an electric current was passed through it. I had not suffered anything shocking like that in the past. They hit me on the back of my head with a rifle butt and accused me of being a UNLF cadre. I told them that I am not. The more I said that I was not connected with any organisation and that I was making a living by private tutoring, the more they hit me and applied electric shocks. For a moment, my blindfold was removed and I saw others like me in the same room being tortured in a similar manner.
The interrogation continued for a few hours, until 4am. Later, I was told to have some tea, but when the tea was brought, they poured it on my thigh instead. The scar is still there. The next morning, they made me sit in the sun and forced me to eat chilies. They also sprayed chili powder in my eyes. I could not urinate and so they handed me some tablets, which they forced me to take and told me to drink lots of water. Still I could not urinate. Then an officer came and threatened me again. He asked many questions about my association with the UNLF. I repeated that I was not a member of any such organization. They asked me, “Who fired the shells?” “Who killed the Subedar [an army rank]?” I said that I was in the city of Imphal during the time of that incident. However, they thought I was lying.
At about 4pm I was blindfolded again. When the blindfold was removed, I found myself in a police station. They kept me there for a day and the next day took me to Imphal to the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court. I was in police custody until the 27th when they took me back to the court, which released me on bail the same day.
I have no words to explain how I feel now. It is very difficult to put it all 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 even step out of my house as soldiers line the roads throughout the day and night. I still have urinary problems as well as problems with my testicles despite the ongoing 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 the plight of people like Mithun and the serious nature of torture
hey have undergone. What he does know is the ‘success’ stories of the armed forces, often briefed by his secretaries.
The AFSPA is one of the worst legislations that the Indian Parliament has passed in its history. Under this law, all security forces are given complete impunity to carry out their operations, once an area is declared disturbed. Even a non-commissioned officer is empowered to shoot and kill on mere suspicions that necessitate maintaining “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 used while justifying the continuous use of this law. The Attorney General said that even if the law contravenes Article 4 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which India has ratified, it is required to be used in the north-eastern states on a ‘war footing’ due to the threat of insurgency both within and outside its territorial borders.
The continuing use of the AFSPA in India raises a few questions. Has the situation improved in any form, in places where the AFSPA 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 answers to all these questions are an emphatic NO, then why should the implementation of this law continue? The Defense Minister of India and his government owe an answer to Mithun and others like him, victimized by this law.
