AFSPA, 1958

Manipur is the easternmost state of the Indian Union. It was an independent country before what many call an “illegal and illegitimate annexation“ by India. Certain acts were imposed in Manipur to curb the “separatist movement”. The Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is one of them and provides the armed forces with draconian power and immunity. The rape, torture and death of Th. Manorama Devi, a 32 year-old woman, the latest in a long list of heinous human rights abuses to take place under the benign gaze of the state and central governments, resulted in wave after wave of protests, both violent and peaceful, in Manipur. This film is a diary of those events.