Another case of assault on a woman in Kohima, this time near the PWD area on November 3, has once again raised uncomfortable questions about the safety of women in Nagaland. The accused, reportedly a taxi driver and a habitual offender, managed to walk the streets freely until he struck again.
This incident is not isolated. Only last week, a young woman and basketball player was found murdered near her home at Old Ministers’ Hill. Within days, another woman was assaulted and robbed. Earlier this year, one woman was found murdered in Peren, believed to have been raped, while another was allegedly beheaded by her husband in a suspected case of domestic violence.
These are not just police cases. They are signs of a deep and growing crisis – one that can no longer be dismissed as isolated acts of crime.
What’s troubling is the silence that follows every such tragedy. Not a single lawmaker has spoken. No department has promised review or reform. Each time, the news fades, and so does the outrage. This silence has now become a pattern and, worse, a form of complicity.
Nagaland cannot keep claiming moral high ground while women are unsafe in their own towns. We cannot continue to speak of “Naga values” while failing to protect half our population.
The issue is not just about policing; it’s about priorities. When repeat offenders are not monitored, when women’s safety is not discussed in the Assembly, and when families and communities hesitate to speak out, what hope is left for accountability?
If the state government truly wishes to address this, it must begin with visible action not committees or promises, but real measures: functioning women’s help desks, better street lighting, stricter bail for repeat offenders, and faster investigations.
But equally, the change must begin within society. Every community, church, and student body must stop treating violence against women as private shame and start treating it as public injustice.
Until that happens, every silence after every assault will speak louder than words.
