AFSPA IN MANIPUR – A History, a Human Cost, a Search for Justice

A History, a Human Cost, a Search for Justice

From 1942 to 2026

For decades, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has stood at the centre of one of India’s most difficult debates: how far may a democracy go in defending itself against armed insurgency while remaining accountable to the people it governs?

AFSPA in Manipur presents a deeply researched history of that question through the experience of Manipur.

Beginning with the colonial antecedents of emergency powers in 1942, the book traces the emergence of insurgency in Northeast India, the enactment of AFSPA in 1958, the growth of armed movements in Manipur, counterinsurgency operations, and the transformation of extraordinary security legislation into part of everyday political life.

The narrative moves beyond the statute itself to examine the people and events that transformed the AFSPA debate: the Malom killings, Irom Sharmila’s sixteen-year hunger strike, the Thangjam Manorama case, the Meira Paibi movement, the historic Kangla protest, and the long campaign for accountability.

It examines the Jeevan Reddy Committee, Justice Verma Committee, Justice Santosh Hegde Commission, EEVFAM litigation, the 1,528 alleged extrajudicial-execution cases placed before the Supreme Court, and subsequent CBI/SIT investigations, carefully distinguishing allegations, inquiry findings and judicial conclusions.

The book also presents the security argument seriously. Insurgency, underground taxation and extortion, cross-border movement, attacks on security personnel, difficult terrain and the limitations of ordinary policing are examined alongside allegations of excessive force and institutional impunity.

The final chapters follow the gradual territorial withdrawal of AFSPA, the upheaval beginning in 2023, subsequent re-imposition in selected areas, and the legal geography of Manipur in 2026.

Inside This Book

• The origins and evolution of AFSPA
• Manipur’s political transition and the rise of insurgency
• Major revolutionary organisations and the underground economy
• Counterinsurgency and everyday militarisation
• Encounter killings and questions of accountability
• Malom and Irom Sharmila
• Thangjam Manorama and the 2004 protests
• Meira Paibis and women’s resistance
• The Supreme Court’s landmark AFSPA jurisprudence
• The Jeevan Reddy and Justice Verma Committees
• EEVFAM and the 1,528 alleged cases
• The Santosh Hegde Commission
• CBI/SIT investigations
• The security establishment’s case for AFSPA
• Withdrawal and re-imposition of disturbed-area status
• The post-2023 Manipur crisis
• Possible pathways toward a future beyond extraordinary law

Rather than reducing this history to a contest between heroes and villains, AFSPA in Manipur examines state power, insurgent violence, constitutional liberty, military necessity, civilian suffering and institutional accountability together.

It is a book about a law—but also about the society that has lived beneath its shadow for generations.

Essential reading for students, researchers, policymakers, journalists and readers interested in Manipur, Northeast India, Indian politics, insurgency, human rights, constitutional law and contemporary history.