# Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958

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The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, later renamed as Armed Forces Special Powers Act, was passed on September 11, 1958 by the Parliament of India. It was passed to enable certain special powers to be conferred upon the armed forces in disturbed areas in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was withdrawn by the Manipur government in some of the constituencies in August 2004 in spite of the Central government not favouring withdrawal of the act.
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​REGISTERED No. D. 221
The Gazette of India
EXTRAORDINARY
PART II—Section 1
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
No. 23] NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, September 28, 1958/Bhadra 21, 1880
MINISTRY OF LAW
(Legislative Department)
New Delhi, the 28 th September, 1958/Bhadra 21, 1880 (Saka)
The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 29th August, 1957, and is hereby published for general information:—
THE ARMED FORCES (ASSAM AND MANIPUR) SPECIAL POWERS ACT, 1958
No. 28 of 1958
11th September, 1958
An Act to enable certain special powers to be conferred upon members of the armed forces in disturbed areas in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
Short title and extent 1. (1) This Act may be called the Armed Forces Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Assam and the Union territory of Manipur.
Definitions 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "armed forces" means the Military forces and the air forces operating as land forces, and includes any other armed forces of the Union so operating;
​(b) "disturbed area" means an area which is for the time being declared by notification under section 3, to be a disturbed area;
(c) all other words and expressions used herein, but not defined and defined in the Air Force Act, 1950 45 of 1950, or the Army Act, 1950 46 of 1950 shall have meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts.
Power to Declare Areas to be Disturbed Areas 3. If, in relation to any State or Union territory of which the Act extends, the Governor of that State or the Administrator of that Union territory or the Central Government, in either case, if of the opinion that the whole or any part of such State or Union territory, as the case may be, is in such a disturbed or dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil powers in necessary, the Governor of that State or the Administrator of that Union territory or the Central Government, as the case may be, may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare the whole or such part of such State or Union territory to be a disturbed area.
Special Power of the Armed Forces 4. Any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the armed forces may, in a disturbed area-
(a) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of Public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary, fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons or the carrying of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons or of fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances;
(b) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do, destroy any arms dump, prepared or fortified position or shelter from which armed attacks are made or are likely to be made or are attempted to be made, or any structure used as a training camp for armed volunteers or utilised as a hide-out by armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence;
(c) arrest, without warrant, any person who has committed a cognisable offence or against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed or is about to commit a cognisable offence and may use such force as may be necessary to effect the arrest;
Arrested Persons to be made over to the Police 5. Any person arrested and taken into custody under this Act shall be made over to the officer-in-charge of the nearest police station with the least possible delay, together with a report of the circumstances occasioning the arrest.
Protection to Persons acting under Act 6. No persecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government, against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act.
Repeal and saving 7. (1) The Armed Forces (Assam and Mainpur) Special Powers Ordinance, 1958 1 of 1958., is hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstansing such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under this Act, as if this Act had commenced on the 22nd day of May, 1958.
G.R. RAJAGOPAUL Secy. to the Govt. of India.
This work is the work of Government of India. Section 52(1)(q) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 allows for the reproduction or publication of
* any matter which has been published in any Official Gazette except an Act of a Legislature;
* any Act of a Legislature subject to the condition that such Act is reproduced or published together with any commentary thereon or any other original matter;
* the report of any committee, commission, council, board or other like body appointed by the government if such report has been laid on the Table of the Legislature, unless the reproduction or publication of such report is prohibited by the government;
* any judgement or order of a court, Tribunal or other judicial authority, unless the reproduction or publication of such judgement or order is prohibited by the court, the Tribunal or other judicial authority, as the case may be.
The decision of the Supreme Court of India in "Eastern Book Company & Ors vs D.B. Modak & Anr" on 12 December, 2007 interpreted this section of the Act as making the material public domain.
This work is also in the public domain in the U.S. because it is an edict of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices. Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials" as well as "any translation prepared by a government employee acting within the course of his or her official duties."
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This work is in the public domain in the U.S. because it is an edict of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices. Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials" as well as "any translation prepared by a government employee acting within the course of his or her official duties."
These do not include works of the Organization of American States, United Nations, or any of the UN specialized agencies. See Compendium III § 313.6(C)(2) and 17 U.S.C. 104(b)(5).
A non-American governmental edict may still be copyrighted outside the U.S. Similar to {{PD-in-USGov}}, the above U.S. Copyright Office Practice does not prevent U.S. states or localities from holding copyright abroad, depending on foreign copyright laws and regulations.
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