The letter by well known senior broadcast journalist, Bano Haralu, a resident of Dimapur, to the chief secretary of Nagaland, complaining of unwarranted harassment of her brother by the 29 Assam Rifles, is unbecoming to say the least. According to the letter, her brother`™s house in the neighbourhood of her parental home she shares with her mother, was raided by a detachment of the Assam Rifles in the unearthly hour of 3am on April 16. Ostensibly the security men were looking for weapons which they believed were hidden in the house. Their brazen raid yielded nothing incriminating but the raiders went ahead to confiscate a licensed .22 rifles, on the plea the license had expired. They also took custody of her brother and drove him away in their vehicle. Later of course, upon the intervention of Bano, who alerted higher authorities of the Assam Rifles, her brother was released without any charges slapped on him, as if this was a favour done to the complainant considering her status in the society. Since the ceasefire with the NSCN(IM) still holds, it is only to be presumed that the security men were looking to flush out remnants of the SS Khaplang led NSCN(K) which has less than a month ago ended its truce with the Government of India.
We take up this issue here though it happened in Dimapur for it brings up certain larger questions pertaining to the application of the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA. There is no doubt about it that it is expected of the security forces to be on the hunt for insurgents not on truce with the government. Since this is empowered by the controversial AFSPA, though we do have reservation about the AFSPA, we will not fault the security men for doing what they are mandated by this draconian law. But the serious question that arises is that the security men jumped even the briefs of the AFSPA therefore were in effect breaking the law. As it turned out, the only thing they presumed was incriminating was the .22 calibre rifle with an expired license. This is an offence no doubt, but a different kind of offence, certainly not the kind that can remotely be associated with waging war against the nation. This is a routine kind of offence which the district magistrate`™s office is supposed to handle and the penalty for it is at the most a nominal fine. As it, the weapon in question is a .22 rifle, and not in the prohibited bore category for which special licenses are mandatory, therefore very much within the right of any civilian who can afford the cost, to own. The AFSPA does not anywhere in its clauses say the security forces are empowered by it to assume the responsibility of a gun licensing authority, nor are they given the charge to haul up people for such minor and routine infringements of law that result most probably out of oversights.
The problem here therefore is not so much the text of the AFSPA or its draconian nature, but of the climate of impunity the Act intoxicates security personnel operating under it. They presume they are free to assume any governance responsibility they wish. If it is screening gun license expiry in Dimapur, it is customs screening and duty levying of tradable goods on the Moreh-Imphal road. Next, who knows the security men might begin to unilaterally decide they can haul up and fine tax overdue vehicles on the roads, penalise electricity bill default cases, tax or fine gambling dens, raid illegal bars and brothels. Raids such as the one in Dimapur actually reinforce the popular belief that under the AFSPA anything the security personnel do can pass off as legitimate. The AFSPA has no place in a democracy, but even its prolonged promulgation can be excused by the often cited logic of meeting an extraordinary circumstance by extraordinary measures, it is still not in any way a blank cheque given to the security establishment. Draconian and anachronistic as it may be, it is still a law with definitely specified parameters, crossing with amounts to infringement of the law. If the Dimapur raid was a genuine case of mistaken intelligence, the least the raiders could have done is to offer an apology, instead of trying to justify the mistake by making an issue of what is a little more than a toy gun.
Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam