Invitation to the Panel Discussion on Armed Forces Special Powers Act: A Perspectival Understanding
Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice
Respected Authorities,
We hope you are doing well amidst these testing times. We kindly request you to circulate the following to all the students and faculty members as we strongly believe it'll be a valuable addition to their legal pedagogy.
The Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice is immensely proud to announce that we shall be organising a Panel Discussion on the theme of "Armed Forces Special Powers Act: A Perspectival Understanding" on 8 January 2022 (Saturday) at 3:30 pm that will take place on Zoom.
At these times, when our entire country is fighting a battle against the Pandemic, there have also been other battles waged to secure a respectable living. In furtherance of the same, several northeastern states, including the Nagaland cabinet have recently passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which empowers Armed Forces to maintain public order in disturbed areas and to gain a grip on deteriorating law and order situation in all the seven-sister states.
This comes in the wake of the botched Oting ambush in Nagaland by the Army killing 14 civilians and the Centre extending the promulgation of the controversial law in the state for another six months.
Through this discussion, we aim to foster an academic environment where different stakeholders concerning this theme come together to deliberate on critical issues around the actions of the Army and the application of this act and engage with the law students, legal academia and common citizens. We believe that a discussion on such a significant and relatable aspect of our lives in the present times would be helpful for all of us in developing a well-informed mindset towards the Act in particular and the wider discourse in general. To achieve this aim, we very proudly introduce our panellists from across the legal, political and media background who will share their views on this fundamentally contemporary issue.
The Panel will be moderated by Prof. Avantik Tamta.
The invited guests for the panel discussion are as follows :
1) Col R Balasubramanian, VSM(Retd): Col.
Balasubramanian started out as a lawyer at
Madurai in 1982. Three years later, Mr. Balasubramanian joined the Army’s JAG
department. He was awarded the Vishisht
Seva Medal in 2006 by the President for his distinguished service. Mr.
Balasubramanian also served in the United Nations as its legal advisor, winning
commendations from the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General and
Force Commander United Nations for “exceptional devotion to peace-keeping
duties” in the United Nations Missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was thrice awarded the
Chief of Army Staff Commendation as well as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff
and Army Commander Eastern Command commendations. In the
Supreme Court, he has represented the government and assisted in high-stakes
cases like the Rafale deal.
2) Maj. Gen. Praveen Kumar Sharma (retd.): Maj. Gen. Sharma is currently serving as the Director and Professor at Amity Law School, Gurugram. Hailing from a family of lawyers and judges across four generations, he completed his law degree from Bharatpur. He displayed his significant academic prowess when he topped the SSB conducted by the UPSC to join the Judge Advocate General Department. He later went on to top in academics and was ranked third among the Judge Advocate General candidates at the training school. Among his many achievements was serving the Indian Army for almost four decades, eventually retiring as a Judge Advocate General. He played a crucial role in developing the Institute of Military Law, Kamptee into a category ‘A’ establishment, which trains defence service officers in military and allied laws as well as maintenance of discipline and administration of justice. It was here that he first gained experience as a teacher and administrator.
3) Ms. Patricia Mukhim: She is an Indian social activist, writer, journalist and the editor of Shillong Times known for her social activism. A recipient of honours such as Chameli Devi Jain award, ONE India award, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry FLO award, Upendra Nath Brahma Soldier of Humanity award, Siva Prasad Barooah National award and North East Excellence award, she was honoured by the Government of India, in 2000, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. She started her career as a teacher but turned to journalism in 1987 as a correspondent and, since 2008, is the editor of the Shillong Times. Founder of Shillong We care- an NGO. She is a member of the National Security Advisory Board of the Government of India and serves as a member of the National Foundation for Communal Harmony, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, India. Mukhim is the director of Indigenous Women's Resource Centre, Shillong. She is deeply involved in the social upliftment activities of the Meghalaya people
4) Dr. Y.S.R. Murthy: Prof. (Dr.) Y.S.R. Murthy assumed charge as the First Vice Chancellor of RV University in August 2020. As a former civil servant from the 1985 batch of IAS and Allied Services, he held many responsible and sensitive assignments including in the National Human Rights Commission, Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Secretariat and Cabinet Secretariat. He has served in the National Human Rights Commission of India in various capacities for over 12 years including as the Director, Policy Research, Programmes and Projects Division. His books on `Halsbury’s Laws of India - Human Rights’ and `Human Rights Handbook’ were published by LexisNexis Butterworths. He is a British Chevening Fellow. Dr. Murthy is a National Coordinator of SWAYAM, besides being a Member of the Association of British Scholars. He is an Advisor to the All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National and State Human Rights Institutions (AINNI).
In this regard, we cordially extend our invitation to all to come forth and join us in the Panel Discussion on the above-mentioned date. The link and login for the discussion will be shared through a subsequent email at the earliest.
Warm Regards,
SACJ (2021-22).
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Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice
Registration Details
There are no eligibility criteria or registration charges for attending the session. To promote discourse in the subject, we have kept it an open session and anyone interested in the topic can attend the session by getting themselves registered at https://forms.gle/rRZKy4azSNHYTzsH7. It is mandatory to register in order to attend the event on Zoom. The event would also be livestreamed at https://youtu.be/YPpViiniJPA.
We kindly request you to reach out to us with thematic questions that you would like our imminent panellists to answer and deliberate upon. In case of any queries or requests, feel free to contact us.
