AGARTALA, Aug 8 � Time has come to take a hard look at the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) keeping in view the strong resentment among the people in North East, said Sankar Sen, former Director General of National Police Academy (NPA) and Fellow of Institute of Social Sciences.
Sen, who came here to attend a seminar titled �Human Rights in Insurgency Operations�, spoke to media on various issues related to human rights here on Thursday.
On the controversial AFSPA, the veteran cop said, �Some more provisions might be incorporated in the existing Act keeping in view human rights violations and recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) should be included to make it more acceptable to the people�.
On the human right violations by extremists, Sen made it clear that they were violating human rights but it would be better if security personnel to tackle insurgency or Left extremism work within the framework of the rule of law.
�Tripura has done a good job in tackling militancy effectively with less violation of human rights and this could be role model for other States where Left extremism has already become a great threat for internal security�, he said.
Sen, however, expressed concern over the growing instances of human rights violations in the country. �As of now the NHRC receives 70,000 complaints related to human right violations yearly. Out of which, a substantial number of complaints have no substance at all�, he pointed out.
Sen further voiced alarm on the custodial death in both police and jail. According to him, while 170 deaths are reported in police custody yearly, 2500 deaths occurred in judicial custody.
�The NHRC should pay more attention on the issue because it has already become a serious cause of concern for all of us�, he said adding that the national body had already taken some measures to address the problem.
The Institute of Social Science (ISS) has been carrying out sensitisation programmes on human rights for security personnel in the country. As part of the effort, the seminar was organised at Prajna Bhavan where Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court MB Lakur was the chief guest.
