It may not have resonated enough in the political discourse of the Valley, but the Supreme Court's observations in Pathribal case that the defence forces can't invoke AFSPA in cases of human rights excesses has a landmark value in the raging debate over the untenability of the law in the changed circumstances in the state. Never before have the voices against the AFSPA in the Valley received such a support from the country's highest Court. The Court not only overturned the notion of the law serving as a blanket cover for the army's operations in the state but also questioned the practice under law of the mandatory sanction from the central government for the prosecution of the personnel responsible for human rights violations. “You go to a place in exercise of AFSPA, you commit rape, you commit murder, then where is the question of sanction? It is a normal crime which needs to be prosecuted, and that is our stand,” a bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar remarked to Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra, representing the Army. The court also said AFSPA gave “very limited protection” confined to action in “discharge of duty”. True, these observations don't have the same force as an order but this still doesn't detract from the significance of the argument. They have set in motion the much-needed process for the modification of the law.  The observations address the main grievance against the Act: that Defence and Home Ministry withhold the sanction for prosecution to the Army and paramilitary personnel responsible for the human rights violations in the state.  And if this sanction comes easy, much of the public concern against the draconian nature of the law will go. As Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has himself said while AFSPA is supposed to facilitate the counter-insurgency operations in the state, it should not serve as a cover for the human rights violations by the security personnel. And once a law does this, it helps resolve nothing and instead only deepens the disaffection and alienation among people

Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Feb 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Feb 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 9 Feb 2012 00:00:00 IST