Manipur: MHA declares majority of state as ‘disturbed area’ under AFSPA for 6 month from October 1: What does it mean?

The Ministry of Home Affairs has classified most of Manipur as a ‘disturbed area’ under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. This notification, effective from October 1, 2026, will be valid for six months unless revoked by the Centre.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday extended the classification of most of Manipur as a “disturbed area” under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958, while keeping 13 police station areas outside its purview.

The notification will take effect from October 1, and remain valid for six months, unless the Centre revokes it before the period ends.

What is a ‘disturbed area’?

Under Section 3 of the AFSPA, 1958, a “disturbed area” is an area officially declared through a notification in the Official Gazette where the situation is sufficiently disturbed or dangerous that the use of armed forces is considered necessary to assist the civil administration.

The law allows such a declaration when there are severe disturbances, violence or conflicts involving different religious, racial, linguistic, regional, caste or community groups.

Under AFSPA, armed forces personnel in a declared ‘disturbed area’ can:

Use force: After giving due warning, use force, including lethal force, against people violating orders prohibiting certain assemblies or possession of weapons/explosives.

Destroy armed facilities: Destroy arms dumps, fortified positions, shelters or structures used for armed attacks, training or as hideouts.

Arrest without warrant: Arrest without a warrant anyone who has committed, or is reasonably suspected of committing or about to commit, a cognizable offence.

Search without warrant: Enter and search premises without a warrant to make an arrest, rescue a person believed to be wrongfully confined, or recover suspected stolen property, weapons, ammunition or explosives.

(This is a developing story. More to come)

About the Author

Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X

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HomeNewsIndiaManipur: MHA declares majority of state as ‘disturbed area’ under AFSPA for 6 month from October 1: What does it mean?