-PTI The Supreme Court Friday granted the Centre three weeks to spell out its stand on the extent of immunity enjoyed by Army personnel under the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and other laws for fake encounter killings. The bench passed the direction on CBI's application for vacating the stay granted by the apex court on the trial in a J&K court relating to the killing of six youth by...

-The Indian Express   The Supreme Court on Friday gave the Army three weeks’ time to detail the extent of immunity enjoyed by Army personnel under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. A bench of Justices was hearing a CBI plea to vacate a SC stay on the trial in a J&K court on the killing of seven youths allegedly by the Army. The incident is said to be a retaliation for the...

-The Times of India   With the government struggling to craft its stance on the contentious question of withdrawal of Armed Forces ( Special Powers) Act from some parts of J&K, the BJP joined the debate by warning the Centre against diluting the law. As the defence ministry insists that the views of the Army and the Unified Command need to be heeded on whether to withdraw AFSPA from certain areas in...

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which has deployed about 70,000 personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, is amenable to the withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain areas as it feels the "immunity'' to its men under other law is "enough" to fight militants when "overall security situation has improved" in the state. The paramilitary force that is also at the forefront in fighting terrorism...

Ordinance makes SPOs an ‘auxiliary force' In the last week of July, the Chhattisgarh government passed an ordinance that sought to dispel the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the State's 5,269 registered Special Police Officers (SPOs) who operate as the vanguard of the government's battle against the guerilla army of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). On July 5, the Supreme Court directed the State government to “immediately cease and desist...