Instead of the message of love that heralds Christmas season, Nagas welcomed the Christmas holidays with a ghastly incident that happened in a village in Phek district where a barbaric act was committed on a person who was voluntarily working for the NBCC’s clean elections campaign. The photo of the victim that was circulated in social media indicates he was severely assaulted and his body was covered with bruises and blood blisters. The victim was assaulted by his village youth organisation because he was on a signature campaign in his village against the move by certain group of people to officially support a particular candidate in the forthcoming elections in 2018.
However, it was the audacity that the concerned village council displayed in its official response on the assault that reeks of complete ignorance of the Law and a show of sheer arrogance. The affairs of the village is best left to the village concerned to deal with as rightly stated by the village council. However , when the actions of the village council or anybody in the village infringes on the basic fundamental rights of a person then it cannot be just cast aside as another intra village issue. Along with its powers to act as the executive and also the judiciary in some cases within the boundaries of the village the village council as the competent authority in the village level empowered by the Nagaland Village Councils Act 1978 is there to protect the rights of all the citizens and is the guardian of the constitution in the village level.
The village council also went a step further to bring in religion to justify the actions of the youth organisation because the victim went against the resolution of the council with his signature campaign when the whole village was in the ‘yuletide spirit’. It is but intriguing if their choice of the word yuletide is the present christianised festive season coinciding with the advent and Christmas till the year end when the message of hope, love, peace, forgiveness and joy are the central themes even in Nagaland for the last hundred plus years since Christianity came. Moreover, it was the biggest Christian body in the state, the Nagaland Baptists Church Council(NBCC) that gave the clarion call especially to all its members to shun election malpractices. How justified is the youth organisation for assaulting the victim, the accused in their version, for upholding to the call of the very NBCC the apex Christian body of majority of Nagas just because he was voluntarily on a signature campaign during yuletide. Unfortunately for the victim, this version of yuletide was more of the pagan one as practiced prior to Christianity and he being one that was sacrificed.
Such occurrences should have no place in a modern society and the authorities should ensure that it is but an aberration and be condemned by all starting with the NBCC itself. It is also intriguing that there have been no official reports of any action taken by the district administration. Such instances actually calls for sou-moto actions by the administration. The unceremonious removal of the chairman of the village council who supported the NBCC Clean Election, on the pretext of going against the resolution of the council should not be entertained by the Deputy Commissioner. The district administration has to conduct a proper enquiry into the whole episode. With the ‘Clean Elections’ campaign in motion, it is also pertinent that the are made to good use to point out to all the village councils its jurisdiction.
