A Naga household’s central feature is the kitchen, the fire in it and the woman around it. Yet, cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse against Naga and non Naga women within Naga households are being reported at a rate that is both encouraging and alarming. Encouraging because more women are becoming aware of their right to live with dignity in a just society. Alarming because: is this how the Naga man will determine the community’s future? (Morung photo/Aheli Moitra)
Aheli Moitra
Dimapur | March 7
For years, a middle aged Naga woman and her children in Dimapur were lined up and thrashed by her husband. He lived away from them, for work, and visited at times. When he did, he beat them blue. To preserve “family honour”, she never argued for justice for her family.
Similar is the story of a woman from Phek whose husband could not wait for her to recover from pregnancies to force himself on her. He repeated the behavior over years. She is a leader from her village; abused on the emotional, physical and sexual front regularly for being so.
A week back, a child of less than 7 was brought into a hospital in Dimapur. Her uncle had raped her but the family did not register a case against him. It will affect her future, they assumed. The case was internally “sorted out” and hushed up. “Most of these cases don’t even make it to the hospital. Rape is taboo even in the west,” said the doctor in-charge of the hospital. So how do we break the taboo? “Women have to learn to protect themselves. Men have nothing to learn; this is normal human nature,” he stated with confidence.
He is not alone in thinking that rape, and violence in general, is the burden of the victim especially if found to be a woman. Markedly, when the perpetrators are from within the society.
Not unlike khap panchayats in Haryana, the Naga society blames brutality against women on “inappropriate dressing”, among others. Neither the Indian Penal Code, customary courts nor the social set up here has been able to reduce violence against women.
VAW in Nagaland
In 2008, there was enough panic already in Nagaland that cases of sexual violence are on the rise. Many of the cases emerged from behind closed doors. Reflecting a small percentage of the whole, the few reported cases include that of two sisters, who in 2010 were, raped by their father.
In 2011, a girl aged 17 years, and mentally challenged, was found by her sister, with their employer atop. “Uthibi, uthibi,” she screamed as the employer had the door tied with a piece of rope while he raped her. Non local domestic workers are consistently, and silently, abused inside Naga homes. Yet, following the rape of a Naga woman in February 2012, the issue and idea of rape was attributed to “illegal immigrants”.
In 2012, a girl aged 11 (a local domestic worker) came limping to her neighbours, who realized something was odd. On investigation, she was found to have been raped by the 65 year old father of her employer. At first he admitted to the crime and later, in court, denied it. The case is pending with the man out on bail.
In 2013, a 13 year old has been found raped and murdered in Lengrijan, Dimapur. Investigation, for now, is stuck for want of evidence.
Not just men but women in Nagaland have made sexual violence out to belong to the modern world, a crime imposed on the Nagas from the outside. Nothing could be more mythical.
“When I told my mother that I had been sexually abused by her brother, she said it is normal and I must accept it,” said a victim on her way to crossing the 30 mark. By not speaking out loud about abuse, the Naga society has woven impunity in cases of violence against women into its fabric. There are many more such victims, who will not testify, for whom the matter of “family honour” rests before justice. Shame is for the victim here, not the perpetrator.
Justice system silencing victims
Legally speaking, justice has consistently evaded most victims of rape. “It takes a year or two for a case to move to court. And then, most of the accused are acquitted or discharged due to the lack of evidence,” explains a legal professional from Dimapur. “The judiciary is doing its best but the investigating agency and prosecution need to do a good job to provide strong evidence,” she asserts.
In India, perpetrators of rape have repeatedly faced acquittal due to the excessive importance attached to “strong evidence”.
Customary law has done little better with compensations like Rs. 50, 000 or a pig and cow used to settle cases, if the rape is established in the first place. The system fails to give the victim justice, thereby silencing the whole lot.
In the absence of law, the indigenous civil society has been reactionary, at best. There are many condemnations and rallies following an incident, which is then rarely followed up on. The media is equally to blame. A handful of organizations work with victims or document these cases at the grassroots.
“As NGOs, we get frustrated working on the cases alone when there is no contribution from the judicial end. Cases get frequently covered up through the patronization of powerful people or through money,” says a rights activist from Assissi Home who has been working for years with victims of violence. “It is also necessary to impart sex education as a part of a syllabus not just on the side,” she explains.
The North East Network in Chizami, now, plans to embark on a study of violence against women from across the state as politicians and bureaucrats “will not believe that it exists” unless a detailed study is presented.
No sense of rights, and wrong
But justice is also an attitude. People barely stand up for other people either, an unfathomable occurrence in a society that is close knit and has access to each others’ kitchens. In 2009 a report emerged wherein a girl from Assam had been bought by a family in Dimapur for a small price. Over the years, she was tortured with iron rods, sticks and even a dao. She retains permanent marks on her skull and below her ear. She finally ran away from the abusive home and her story saw light. How did no one in the neighbourhood notice this?
“People do not have a sense of their rights, nor do they have a sense of what is wrong,” says an exasperated activist. Domestic workers are not recognized as workers, and women delegated to a secondary position for the sake of “tradition”.
Victims of violence need mental and physical security, not protection of “honour” and “dignity”. The issue of sexual violence has remained buried in “honour”—the society denies it because cases go unreported; cases are unreported because it will hurt the family/clan’s honour. In a close group society, it is all the more important to understand sexual abuse and domestic violence outside of concepts that make a joke of crime and rights.
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