THE ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) REPEAL BILL, 2017 By
1 AS INTRODUCED IN LOK SABHA Bill No. 21 of 2017 THE ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) REPEAL BILL, 2017 By DR. THOKCHOM MEINYA, M.P. A BILL to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 1. (1) This Act may be called Armed Forces (Special Powers) Repeal Act, 2017. Short title and commencement. (2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification 5 in the Official Gazette, appoint. 2. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 is hereby repealed. Repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. (Act No. 28 of 1958). STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is a draconian law that gives Indian soldiers impunity while battling insurgencies in north-eastern parts of India. The battle against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is a long, bitter one. On August 15, 1942, Lord Linlithgow, the viceroy of India, promulgated the Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance to suppress the Quit India Movement launched by Mahatama Gandhi. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and most leaders of the Indian National Congress were imprisoned under this law. A few years after Indian independence, the Government of India led by Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister. faced his first insurgency in Naga districts of Assam, along the Burmese border. In 1954, the Nagas began an insurgency for independence. India responded by sending in thousands of Indian army soldiers and para-military forces to crush the rebellion.
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