The Union Home Ministry has kept its order that empowered Assam Rifles , deployed along the Myanmar border, to arrest anyone and search a place without warrant in border districts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram “in abeyance.”
The notification was withheld after Opposition parties moved an adjournment motion against the order in the Assam Assembly. Home Ministry said the matter would be “revisited in consultation with the State governments concerned.”
The notification said “an officer of the rank corresponding to that of the lowest rank of members of the Assam Rifles” will have the powers under the CrPC.
It is not clear why the notification included Assam, as the State does not share its border with Myanmar. Assam Rifles has power to detain anyone where Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) is in place. But it was finding it difficult to operate in Mizoram, which is not covered by AFSPA. Entire Assam is under AFSPA. Assam Rifles, a central armed police force (CAPF) came into being in 1835. It is under the administrative control of the Home Ministry and operational control of the Army.
A senior government official said after the Assam Rifles Act was amended in 2006, the powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) earlier available to it under the Assam Rifles Act, 1941, were not restored.
The official said 13 years after the Act was amended, the issue has acquired urgency for effective enforcement of the Free Movement Regime along the Myanmar border (on the 16 km belt on either side). The Free Movement Regime was streamlined after the bilateral agreement between India and Myanmar on Land Border Crossing was finalised in 2018. “This will require giving suitable powers to Border Guarding Forces under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Passport Act, 1967 and Passport Entry into India Act, 1920,” the official explained.
Assam Rifles personnel will exercise these powers and discharge their duties “under sub-section(1) of section 41, sections 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 149, 150, 151 and 152 of the CrPC within the local limits of the area comprised within the border districts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram,” the notification said. Section 41 of the CrPC states that any police officer may, without an order from a magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person. Section 47 gives powers for search of place entered by person sought to be arrested.
