The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act authorized India’s armed forces to act with total impunity by granting personnel immunity from prosecution unless approved by the Government of India.  This law has been widely used to sanction impunity, human rights violations, acts constituting war crimes and acts constituting crimes against humanity in Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir.   In the words of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2018): “AFSPA 1990 was passed by the Parliament of India on September 10, 1990 but was “deemed to have come into force” retrospectively from July 5, 1990. This act grants broad powers to the security forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir and effectively bestows immunity from prosecution in civilian courts for their conduct by requiring the central government to sanction all prospective prosecutions against such personnel prior to being launched….In the nearly 28 years that the law has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir, there has not been a single prosecution of armed forces personnel granted by the central government.” ‍

Topics: legalized impunity, sanctioning war crimes, sanctioning crimes against humanity, sanctioning human rights violations, denial of access to justice, denial of legal remedy, colonial domination