Policy Paper
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA): Legal impunity to kill
Author:
Saqib Wani
London school of Economics and Political Science, GB
About Saqib
Master of Public Administration,
Class of 2022, The London School of
Economics and Political Science
Abstract
There are laws and legal mechanisms which facilitate
abuse inherently and have been misused to dehumanize
and conduct gross human rights violations in the name
of the state and for the national interest. A deeper look
reveals how instead of serving the national interest, such
draconian laws have been a primary cause of alienation
and discontent amongst the populations they apply to.
Facilitating a state of exception within the state itself,
such laws have taken from the populations of such
“disturbed areas”, their basic rights to life and liberty
and thereby reducing them as subservient to the whims of
human judgment with little to no recourse to justice
from the law itself. This paper is an attempt to analyze the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and provides
evidence on how it has been misused countless times and
recommends its repeal and modification to ensure justice
is not massacred by the law itself.
How to Cite:
Wani, S., 2022. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA): Legal impunity to kill. The Public Sphere: Journal of Public Policy, 10(1).
Published on
20 Apr 2022.
Peer Reviewed
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