Photo Courtesy: Image by suky6661 from Pixabay | For representational purpose only
Rev Chingmak
ECS, Tuensang
The recent abuse of a young girl is not merely an isolated crime. It is a painful reminder of the deeper demons that continue to live within our society—patriarchy, poverty, silence, and indifference. While we express outrage when such incidents come to light, the truth is that these tragedies are often the predictable outcome of social conditions we have tolerated for far too long.
As Nagas, we must look beyond the individual perpetrator and honestly confront the realities that continue to make women and children vulnerable.
1. Patriarchy Remains the Root Issue
Unless we honestly confront patriarchy, incidents of abuse against women and girls will continue to recur. Too often, our culture teaches girls to be silent, obedient, and accommodating, while boys are raised with greater freedom, authority, and entitlement. This imbalance creates conditions where abuse can flourish unchecked.
We cannot continue to celebrate ourselves as a proud society while refusing to acknowledge the unequal treatment of women. The greatest enemy of Naga women is not always an individual abuser but a mindset that normalizes male privilege and expects women to endure injustice quietly. Naga society must find the courage to confront this uncomfortable truth and dismantle attitudes that diminish the dignity, voice, and leadership of women.
2. Dignity Must Not Depend on Gender
Every woman and girl carries inherent dignity and worth. Respect cannot be conditional upon age, tribe, marital status, education, or economic standing. The measure of a society is found in how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members.
Many women and girls continue to suffer humiliation, discrimination, and violence behind closed doors while communities look away. Churches preach love, schools teach values, and families speak of honour, yet too often we fail to protect those who need protection the most. Every family, church, school, village council, and institution must accept a shared moral responsibility to safeguard women and children and uphold their dignity.
3. Poverty and Economic Disparity Drive Vulnerability
Economic disparity creates relationships of dependency where the poor become vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
This is not merely a social problem; it is a failure of governance. Decades of neglect, uneven development, lack of livelihood opportunities, and poor investment in vulnerable communities have left countless families trapped in desperation. We cannot continue blaming poor parents for difficult decisions while ignoring the systems that keep them poor.
Government laxity and political irresponsibility must be confronted honestly. Development cannot remain a slogan repeated during elections while children continue to be pushed into servitude because their families have no viable means of survival. Until poverty and inequality are addressed seriously, exploitation will continue to find fertile ground.
4. Silence Protects Perpetrators
Abuse survives because silence protects it. Victims often remain afraid to speak, families fear shame, and communities choose comfort over confrontation. In many cases, people know something is wrong but choose not to intervene.
We must move from a culture of silence to a culture of accountability. Every parent, teacher, pastor, village leader, government official, and neighbour must recognise their responsibility to protect children and report abuse. Looking away is not neutrality—it is complicity. Every time we remain silent in the face of injustice, we strengthen the hand of the abuser and weaken the voice of the victim.
5. We Need a Cultural Transformation, Not Just Legal Action
Laws such as POCSO are essential, but laws alone cannot heal what is broken within society. Court cases may punish offenders, but they cannot by themselves transform attitudes that devalue women or systems that perpetuate inequality.
What Nagaland needs is a moral awakening. We need homes that teach respect, churches that challenge harmful cultural practices, schools that nurture equality, and leaders who place the welfare of vulnerable people above politics. Boys must be taught responsibility, respect, and consent from a young age. Girls must be encouraged to speak, lead, and pursue their aspirations without fear.
Real change will come not when we merely react to abuse after it happens, but when we create a society where abuse becomes increasingly difficult because dignity, equality, and accountability have become our collective values.
Closing Reflection
The greatest challenge before Naga society is not simply punishing perpetrators after a tragedy occurs. It is confronting the demons within ourselves—the patriarchy that normalises inequality, the poverty that drives vulnerability, the silence that protects abusers, and the political and institutional failures that allow these conditions to persist.
Every abused child is a question directed at our conscience. Every violated woman is an indictment of our collective failure. Until we address both patriarchy and poverty, and until government, political leaders, churches, and communities accept responsibility for meaningful change, we will continue treating the symptoms while ignoring the disease.
