act 028 of 1958 : The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

  • Date:
Department
  • Department of Internal Security
Ministry
  • Ministry of Home Affairs
Enforcement Date

11 Sep 1958

To access the original judgment, please Sign In or Subscribe.
Section 1. Short title and extent.

(1) This Act may be called 3[the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.]

4[(2) It extends to the whole of the States of 1[2[Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.]]]


1. Subs. by Act 34 of 1986, s. 40, for "Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura and the Union territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram" (w.e.f. 20-2-1987).
2. Subs. by Act 69 of 1986, s. 43, for "Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and the Union territory of Arunachal Pradesh" (w.e.f. 20-2-1987).
3. Subs. by Act 7 of 1972, s. 3, for "the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958" (w.e.f. 5-4-1972).
4. Subs. by s. 3,ibid., for sub-section (2) (w.e.f. 5-4-1972).

Year Description Hindi Description Files(Eng) Files(Hindi)
28-09-1970 AFSPA Notifications in Manipur
27-11-1990 AFSPA Notifications in Assam
17-09-1991 AFSPA Notification in Nagaland
17-09-1991 AFSPA Notifications in Meghalaya
17-09-1991 AFSPA Notification in Arunachal Pradesh
07-03-2012 AFSPA in Tripura
27-03-2015 declared the entire State of Assam as distrubed areaa
05-05-2015 Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh 'disturbed area'
30-06-2015 whole of State of NAgaland as disturbed area
04-11-2015 declared the entire State of Assam disturbed area
05-11-2015 declared Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam as 'disturbed area'
04-05-2016 declared Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh 'disturbed area'
30-06-2016 declared whole state of Nagaland 'disturbed area'
04-11-2016 Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts ofArunachal Pradesh as disturbed area
04-11-2016 declared the state of Assam as 'disturbed area'
04-05-2017 Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh and in the area falling within the jurisdiction of sixteen police stationspolice out post in districts of Arunachal Pradesh as disturbed area
04-05-2017 declared the entire State of Assam as ‘disturbed area’
30-06-2017 whole state of Nagaland 'distrubed area'
04-08-2017 Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh as disturbed areas
04-08-2017 State of Meghalaya bordering with State of Assam as disturbed area
01-10-2017 declared the areas falling within 20 kms wide belt in the State of Meghalaya bordering with Assam as disturbed area
01-10-2017 declared the Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts as ‘disturbed area’
30-12-2017 declared the whole state of Nagaland as 'disturbed area'
01-04-2018 declared the Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh as 'disturbed area'
30-06-2018 declaring whole of State of Nagaland as disturbed area
04-08-2018 entire State of Assam as ‘disturbed area'
27-08-2018 Assam Notification
01-10-2018 declared the Tirap,Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh and the area falling within the jurisdiction of 8 police stations in the districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering state of 'Assam' as disturbed area
01-10-2018 declared the Tirap,Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering State of Assam as ‘disturbed area'
30-12-2018 Nagaland Notification
31-12-2018 Manipur Notification
01-04-2019 Arunachal Notification
27-03-2024 Declaration of disturbed areas in Arunachal Pradesh under AFSPA
27-03-2024 Arnuchal Pradesh notification dated 27.03.2024
Section 2. Definitions.

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 the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts.


Section 3. Power to declare areas to be disturbed areas.

1[3. Power to declare areas to be disturbed areas.If, in relation to any State or Union territory to which this Act extends, the Governor of that State or the Administrator of that Union territory or the Central Government, in either case, is 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 power is 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.]



1. Subs. by s. 4, ibid., for section 3 (w.e.f. 5-4-1972).
*Central Government declares whole of the State of Nagaland to be disturbed area for a period of six months with effect from 30th December, 2021.

Year Description Hindi Description Files(Eng) Files(Hindi)
27-08-2018 Assam Notification
30-12-2018 Nagaland Notification
31-12-2018 Manipur Notification
01-04-2019 Arunachal Notification
Section 4. Special powers of the armed forces.

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 cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed or is about to commit a cognizable offence and may use such force as may be necessary to effect the arrest;
(d) enter and search without warrant any premises to make any such arrest as aforesaid or to recover any person believed to be wrongfully restrained or confined or any property reasonably suspected to be stolen property or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances believed to be unlawfully kept in such premises, and may for that purpose use such force as may be necessary.


Section 5. Arrested persons to be made over to the police.

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.


Section 6. Protection to persons acting under Act.

No prosecution, 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.



Section 7.Repealed.

[Repeal and Saving.] Rep. by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1960 (58 of 1960), s. 2 and the First Schedule (w.e.f. 26-12-1960).



SECTIONS