The Union Home Ministry has recommended to the Cabinet for rejection of 10-year-old Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee’s suggestions for repealing the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Confirming the development, a senior official of Home Ministry on Monday said the Ministry had in the last week “categorically recommended” to the Cabinet Committee on Security for rejection of the Reddy Committee’s suggestions for repealing the AFSPA.
“We have recommended to the Union Cabinet to reject the report of Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee,” a Home Ministry official said. This is the first time the Home Ministry has taken a decision on AFSPA, while the Defence Ministry had objected the Reddy Committee’s suggestions from the very beginning. The Committee, which submitted its report to the Centre in 2005, described the AFSPA as a “draconian” law and “a symbol of oppression”. The committee was set up in 2004, in the wake of intense agitation in Manipur following killing of a woman, Thangjam Manorama, while in the custody of Assam Rifles and the indefinite fast undertaken by activist Irom Sharmila. The five-member committee, headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge, had submitted its report on June 6, 2005.
The then Defence Minister, AK Antony, as well as all the Army chief had taken a bold stand against the Committee’s recommendation for repealing AFSPA. At one point then Home Minister P Chidambaram had spoken against the tough provisions of the Act, which was shot down in the Cabinet by Antony and then Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Both had argued in favour of Armed Forces opinion that at any cost no dilution of the AFSPA would be appreciated. Former Army chief General VK Singh had come out openly against the demands for dilution of the Act from certain quarters from the UPA Government in 2010. He said that Army was against any dilution of the Act and said that the forces operating in insurgency-prone areas are protected by the AFSPA from “harassment” in future.