Written by: Monalisa Changkija
While Nagaland has been declared the safest state for women in India, the ground reality begs to differ. Like any other society steeped in toxic muscularity rooted in patriarchy, Naga society and the State of Nagaland are as unsafe for women, children, the elderly, and all vulnerable sections of society. While Nagaland has been named the ‘Land of Festivals’, there is nothing festive for victims of rape and other sexual assaults, considering what they have to live with. At one time, our male intellectuals and scholars would proudly declare that ‘rape was unknown in Naga society’; the truth, however, has been revealed several times over. They often forget, or choose to ignore, the very fact that the existence of rape laws, however pitifully inadequate, in our age-old customary laws indicates that rapes were committed in traditional Naga society.
As in all patriarchal societies, rape and other sexual and physical assaults are committed and stigmatized. Psychological assaults are not even acknowledged, perhaps due to ignorance or because they are considered ‘too bad’—perhaps even deserved. As in all patriarchies where toxic muscularity is idolized and celebrated, silence becomes the strongest thread weaving through the social, cultural, political, and economic fabric of Naga society. Hard as it may be to accept, truth is never meant to be a sweet, soft, velvety ice cream that is easy to swallow. The problem with truth is that, while it may take its time, it inevitably reveals itself in ways that were unimaginable just the other day.
Besides education, which has created awareness and exposure to a certain extent, changed laws and an unpretentious but relentless media over the decades in the state have also altered narratives. It is too early to celebrate, however, that silence—which patriarchy imposes and toxic muscularity enforces—is slowly being eroded. In the last couple of years, rapes, murders, and physical, sexual, and psychological assaults on women, girls, boys, and young men have been centre stage in the legacy print and electronic media, as well as on social media.
This has compelled law-enforcing agencies and courts to take serious note and arrest alleged culprits—though unfortunately not seriously enough to fast-track all aspects of justice delivery. Unfortunately, too, the slow erosion of silence has not prompted our male-dominated tribal hohos and churches to break their silence and take a stand on crimes against women, girls, boys, and young men—except, perhaps, through the occasional ‘condemnation’ press release.
However, one way or another, such heinous crimes are being exposed, thereby revealing the true state and status of women’s safety in Nagaland. Last year, a woman was allegedly raped and murdered in Pimla, Peren district. The police apparently remain clueless, as no arrests have been made to date. On June 19, Kohima witnessed a huge rally against the numerous sexual crimes and offences in the state, particularly the lack of action against an IAS officer who allegedly committed sexual offences against two underage female domestic helpers when he was the Deputy Commissioner of Noklak district and later repeated the offences against several female staff members in his capacity as Joint Secretary of the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN). In all these cases, FIRs have been filed and hearings continue, yet there is no closure or justice for the victims. In fact, the IAS officer continues to serve in the government, while the IDAN victims have lost their jobs on the grounds that their contracts had ended.
Last month, a horrific case surfaced involving the alleged repeated rape of a 14-year-old girl for over a year by her ‘guardian’ and two others. In Nagaland, underage boys and girls are brought from the eastern districts and housed with families in Dimapur and Kohima on the understanding that they will be treated lovingly and sent to school. However, they often end up as domestic helpers, working from sunrise until long after sunset, and are frequently subjected to inhuman treatment—much of which falls under the provisions of the POCSO Act. In this case, the alleged perpetrators—the house owner’s married son in his forties with three children, his cousin in his thirties, and a 68-year-old man said to be their uncle and, to boot, a Gaon Bura of a colony here—have been arrested. However, we are still waiting for the long arm of the law to take its course.
In another instance this month, a minor girl was allegedly harassed by a 40-year-old church leader in Kohima. The perpetrator was reportedly arrested, but here too the long arm of the law will take its course in its own time. Besides, there will be the usual pulls, pushes, and pressures—perhaps even threats, intimidation, financial inducements, and other ‘incentives’—for ‘forgiveness’ and ‘mercy’.
Hardly a couple of days later, and horrors of horrors, an 82-year-old woman was allegedly raped in Kiphire by none other than a constable of the Nagaland Armed Police, who was later arrested. Then there is the ongoing investigation against a pastor who allegedly committed sexual offences against minor boys, some say even very young boys. FIRs were filed, but he disappeared into thin air. The police have remained clueless ever since. Rumours in town suggest that the pastor may have fled abroad.
Considering the innumerable sexual crimes and offences committed in the context of India’s billions, the numbers in Nagaland may appear ‘negligible’. Reportedly, one rape is committed every 16 minutes in India. However, numbers and statistics do not diminish the gravity of such crimes in any society. Not all such crimes are reported at the national or local level, so we do not know how many have slipped through the cracks of the police dragnet and the media’s hawk eyes.
For Nagaland—and indeed the Northeast—what stands out is that we are essentially a small tribal population, the majority of whom proudly profess the Christian faith. Therefore, such crimes demand a closer examination of our social, cultural, political, economic, and educational foundations, including the disintegration occurring from the family unit to broader societal frameworks and networks. Technology may be blamed, but it is neither value-based nor morality-based; values, morals, and ethics are inculcated at home, in schools, and in churches.
Safety and security are the government’s constitutional responsibility—every crime reflects, to some extent, the government’s failures. Moreover, the government’s value system percolates down to the grassroots, as is visible in the messages and propaganda during elections and subsequent victories. Consequently, we witness the flouting of the rule of law, the deterioration of democratic institutions, the shrinking of personal freedoms, and more. Patriarchal social institutions such as the church and tribal hohos, nurtured on toxic muscularity that is often passed off as culture, tradition, and religion, also embolden and enable perversity, moral turpitude, crime, unaccountability, and irresponsible behaviour.
Ultimately, rape and all crimes against women and children, as well as other vulnerable sections of society, are sociopathic manifestations of power, control, and dominance. These are the core ethos and essence of toxic muscularity, through which the poison of patriarchy seeps into society and makes it an inhospitable yet inescapable human condition. Do we perpetuate this condition, or do we strive for the greener pastures of humanity? No crime happens in a vacuum—society creates the conditions for it, and the state enables it through the obfuscation of messages, actions, or inaction.
The columnist is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet, and former Editor of Nagaland Page.