Although the Union Home Ministry has let it been known that the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee report on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act had recommended repeal of the legislation, they have also allowed the impression to go around that the panel merely wanted the prerogatives of the armed forces transferred wholesale onto another law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
In fact, a careful reading of the report makes it clear how mistaken that impression is. The Committee wants the AFSPA scrapped and the ULP Act amended but all its suggested amendments are aimed at inserting safeguards against possible abuse of power rather than expanding the scope of already existing powers.
The report makes its strongest argument in favour of the repeal of the AFSPA when it points out that both the mandate to fight militant organisations in the North-east as well as the legal protection sought by the Army, the Assam Rifles and other paramilitaries already exists in the ULP Act. “[It] can be said that there are two enactments for fighting militant/insurgent/terrorist organisations, groups and gangs in the North-eastern States, viz. the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act whose application is limited to the North-eastern States alone, and the ULP Act which extends to the whole of India including the North-eastern states.”
