Beneath the Safe Surface: On Women’s Safety in Nagaland

Backed by statistics, Nagaland is often perceived as one of the safest places for women in India. This may be true, especially for tourists, as no major incident related to visitors -- both domestic and international -- have been reported in the state of late. Many attribute this to traditional values like respect for women among the Nagas, though a patriarchal society. Comparatively, Nagaland may still have a lower crime rate against women than most Indian states, but that may not reflect the full picture. Activists and government officials claim that there could be many unaccounted cases of discrimination and harassment – physical and mental – against women for several reasons, including reluctance to seek help or file a case due to lack of trust in the existing justice delivery systems – Indian judiciary and Naga customary law – and social norms and stigma associated with such cases. Claims of underreporting seem to be not unfounded, going by the steady increase in crimes against women in the state over the years amid growing social awareness of women’s safety, better support systems and an increase in the literacy rate. The general perception and the counter claim of potentially skewed statistics may be debatable, but one thing is clear – brutal violent incidents against women, including rape and murder, have rocked the state this year.

Besides several cases related to alleged rape and physical assault, including on minors, which raised serious concerns about women’s safety in the state, at least three chilling crimes allegedly perpetrated by their own husbands were reported in Dimapur and Chümoukedima alone in the first half of this year. In February, a woman was reportedly murdered by her husband at Thilixu village before a similar incident took place near Pimla village in Chümoukedima two months later, where the body of a young mother was found brutally murdered, sending shockwaves across the state and triggering wide-spread outrage and protests. In June, another woman, a mother of five, was allegedly killed by her husband at their residence in Walford, Dimapur, in a suspected case of domestic violence. While these brutal criminal acts have shaken public conscience as well as the foundations and values people of the state take pride in, gender-based violence and assaults continue unabated. Not long after a 70-year-old man from Jalukie was arrested for attempted rape on a minor girl, another case of attempted rape and murder of a woman in Kohima district last week prompted civil society organisations to demand a befitting exemplary punishment for the culprit. Following public outrage over the brutal gang-rape and murder of Nirbhaya in 2012, the government of India enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act (2013 and 2018), thus amending the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, and Code of Criminal Procedure, which significantly strengthened legal provisions related to sexual offenses, mandating faster investigation and trial besides more stringent penalties, including the death penalty in certain cases. However, prolonged delay in cases involving rape victims is not uncommon. This needs to be addressed to stop erosion of public trust in the legal system. Laws should not only deter criminal activities but also encourage victims to speak up and fight for their rights.