Gender-based violence in NE

In the geography of gender-based violence in Northeast India, Assam emerges as the glaring crimson outlier. Figures from NCRB reveal that Assam is hardly a beacon of progress but a monument to systemic failure. While its neighbors cloak themselves in customary silence or conflict-induced chaos, Assam’s statistics are brutally loud. With over 29,000 cases annually and a crime rate nearly double the national average, the state has become the statistical epicenter of violence against women. This crisis is structural, driven by three categories that account for nearly 80% of reported crimes. Domestic cruelty reigns supreme, fueled by rampant alcoholism in tea garden belts and rural pockets. Kidnapping figures remain alarmingly high-a chaotic mix of consensual elopements criminalized by parents and sinister operations by trafficking rings. Assam also remains the primary “source state” for human traffickers, who prey on flood-ravaged districts like Dhubri and Barpeta. Police efforts in 2024-25 led to 700 arrests and over 450 trafficking cases, yet the legal machinery is overwhelmed. Women are breaking the silence to file FIRs, but a conviction rate hovering below 5% renders their courage futile. The system functions less as a shield and more as a filing cabinet. In practice, a conviction rate under 5% effectively legalizes abuse. The gap between filing a case and securing justice is where the system collapses. If Assam’s numbers are a scream, the rest of the region offers a dangerous silence. The dichotomy of Nagaland’s reputation as the “safest state” belies the fact. Official police records show only 56 cases, but helpline logs reveal hundreds more. Customary laws suffocate justice in the name of clan honor, forcing women to settle privately rather than pursue legal remedies. Meghalaya fares no better. Its matrilineal pride masks a rotting core of spousal abuse and crimes against minors. In 2024 alone, the state registered 658 crimes against women and 556 crimes against children, many under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Alcoholism, early marriage, and entrenched cultural practices compound the problem. Spousal abuse remains widespread, often hidden to preserve clan reputation. Manipur presents the bleakest picture of all. The 2023 NCRB report shows a statistical “decline” in crimes against women, but this reflects not progress, rather the collapse of law and order. Displacement, ethnic division in policing, and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war have left countless crimes unrecorded. The “Zero-FIR” reality in Manipur and suppressed reporting in tribal states create a false sense of security that blinds policymakers to the true scale of the crisis. The Northeast is trapped between the hyper-visibility of violence in the plains and the invisible suffering in the hills. Safety here is a mirage constructed by selective data. Assam proves that high reporting is meaningless without convictions, while Nagaland and Manipur prove that low numbers often signify a complete failure of the state to protect its citizens. Meghalaya’s paradox shows that social status alone cannot shield women from abuse. Until the legal system pierces the shield of customary law, until courts deliver verdicts rather than just dates, and until conviction rates rise above token levels, the women of the Northeast will remain unsafe-regardless of what the ledger says.