ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the experiences of women suspected of being security threats in India's internal conflict zones. Indian law grants a substantial measure of immunity from prosecution to civil servants, police officers, prosecutors and soldiers for acts they might do when exercising national security powers. Soni Sori's and Thangjam Manorama Devi's experiences suggest that women who are processed under national security laws are highly vulnerable to sexual violence and other forms of physical violence from state actors. Dispiritingly, the even wider immunity provision in the AFSPA has not been similarly clarified, despite repeated calls for clarification from civil society and a number of official bodies. Rape is, of course, a long-standing offence under Indian criminal law. However, until very recently, rape was defined to include only penile penetration of the vagina. (Armed Forces Special Powers Act ) AFSPA gives soldiers and paramilitary personnel considerably greater powers of arrest, search, seizure and force than the civilian police have under normal circumstances.
