The year 1942 was a turning point in India's freedom struggle. In Bombay, the All India Congress Committee in its 8 August meeting, decided to launch the Quit India movement. In Singapore, about 40,000 British Indian soldiers who had joined the Indian National Army were marching towards India from the eastern front together with the Japanese soldiers. In a sweeping move, Congress was declared an illegal organisation. Prominent Congress leaders were arrested and jailed. A mass upheaval broke out all over India.

The Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared emergency all over the British India and promulgated the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance, 1942 on 15 August 1942, conferring vaguely defined special powers to the armed forces to arrest and use force (even kill) civilians on mere suspicion. (see Document 1)

The armed forces were protected from legal action, unless prior sanction is obtained from the Central Government. At the end of the month, the Viceroy wrote to the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 'I am engaged here in meeting by far the most serious rebellion since that of 1857".

Five years later, on 15 August 1947, India got independence and became a Sovereign Democratic Republic on 26 January 1950.

But, in the remote North East corner of the country, the armed forces are enjoying today the same special powers and privileges granted in the colonial Ordinance. In its new incarnation, the enabling legislation is called the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

The reasons for its continuance in the North East region can be discerned from an overview of the history of Manipur.

Manipur was an independent kingdom before the coming of the British in the 19th century. Manipuris are ethnically and culturally distinct from the people of mainland India and more akin to the peoples in South East Asia. The British conquered Manipur in 1891, after overcoming stiff resistance from the valiant Manipuri soldiers.

Anti-colonial struggles in Manipur date back to 1904 when the womenfolk rose against forced labour imposed by the British on all able-bodied men of Imphal, the capital. The first armed resistance against the colonial power broke out in 1917. History records this event as the Kuki Rebellion. The year 1939 witnessed another spontaneous uprising by the women against the exploitative colonial economic policies.

Manipur's independence was restored in August 1947, with the departure of the British from Indian subcontinent. A constitutional monarchy was established under the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 and elections on the basis of universal adult franchise and the secret ballot were held in 1948.

By mid- 1950s, in the neighbouring Naga Hills (then under the administrative control of Assam and now Nagaland State), the Naga National Council took up arms against the 'Indian occupation forces'. The tremors of the movement reached the districts of Senapati (then Manipur North District) and Ukhrul (then Manipur East District) in Manipur. As the State forces failed to contain the uprising, the artny was called in. But, for facilitating army operations, a legal framework became necessary.

So, the Government of India, then in the hands of the Congress whose leaders were once jailed under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance 1942 of British India, promulgated the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance, 1958.

Certain modifications were made to the 1942 Ordinance:

1. The provision for declaration of emergency was replaced by the term 'disturbed area';

2. More vaguely defined powers were added (including the power to use force to even kill any person on suspicion of disturbing public order or carrying weapons, 'to search any place without warrant or destroy any place on suspicion of being used by armed groups) to the old Ordinance;

3. The power to take action, which was authorised to an officer of the rank of Captain and above in the old Ordinance, was delegated to lower ranks including Junior Commissioned officers and Non-commissioned officers.

As a result of these modifications, the1958 Ordinance became more deceptive and harsher than the colonial Ordinance of 1942. 

Parliament Debates

... there (Assam and Manipur), they (certain misguided sections of the Nagas, in the words of Mr. Pant) are indulging in -arson, murder, loot, dacoity etc. So it has become necessary to adopt effective measures for the protection of the people in those areas. In order to enable the armed forces to handle the situation effectively wherever such problem arises hereafter, it has been considered necessary to introduce this Bill.

Some members of Parliament opposed it on the ground that blanket powers being conferred on the army by this Act would lead to the violation of the Fundamental Rights of the people, that this Act would circumvent the Constitution by effectively imposing an Emergency in these areas without actually declaring one and that it would abrogate the powers of the civil authority in favour of the armed forces.

Manipur has only two seats in the Lower House of the Parliament. When the Bill was introduced, both the Members of Parliament (Mps) from Manipur, Mr. R. Suisa and Mr. Laishram Achaw Singh, vehemently opposed it. Mr. Laishram Achaw Singh, MP from Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, objected to the Bill as follows:

In my humble opinion, this measure is unnecessary and also unwarranted. This Bill is sure to bring about complications and difficulties in those areas, especially in those which are going to be declared as disturbed areas. I fail to understand why the military authorities are to be invested with special powers. I have found that these military authorities have always committed excesses in many cases, especially in the sub-divisions of Kohima and Mokokchung. In such a situation, I do not like that the officers should be invested with special powers. Recently, such an incident took place in the Headquarters of the North Cachar and Mikir Hills District. Instead of rounding (up) the hostile Nagas, some military personnel trespassed into the houses of some retired tribal official and committed rape on the widow. So, such things have deteriorated the situation. The tribal people have risen against the military people there. It is, theref ore, dangerous to invest the military authorities with extraordinary powers of killing and of arrest without warrant and of house breaking.

I have got reports of the operations of the armed forces in these tribal sub-divisions of Manipur, especially in the sub-division of Tamenglong where these armed forces have by force occupied the religious institutions, in spite of the protests from the local people. Most of them are Christians there and hold their Churches sacred. But these armed forces would forcibly occupy these institutions. ....

This piece of legislation is an anti-democratic measure and also a reactionary one. Instead of helping to keep the law and order position in these areas, if they declare some areas as disturbed areas, it would cause more repression, more misunderstanding and more of unnecessary persecutions in the tribal areas. This is a black law. This is also an act of provocation on the part of the Government. How can we imagine that these military officers should be allowed to shoot to kill and without warrant arrest and search? This is a lawless law. There are various provisions in the Indian Penal Code and in the Criminal Procedure Code and they can easily deal with the law and order situation in these parts. I am afraid that this measure will only severe the right of the people and harass innocent folk and deteriorate the situation.

Finally, under the Government of Manipur, Home Department Notification dated 8 September 1980, the entire Manipur Central District was declared disturbed. With this notification, the whole of Manipur became a 'disturbed area' under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. No part of Manipur has been de-notified ever since.

Firstly it is proposed that the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 may have uniform application in all the five States and the two Union Territories in the North Eastern region.

Secondly, it sought to state clearly that the Governor of these States and the Administrator of the two Union Territories would have the power to declare an area as disturbed.

Thirdly, it is proposed to take that power also for the Central government.