Made of logs of a tree that irritates the skin, these cages are prescribed by customary laws for shaming law-breakers
Some villages in Nagaland are trying to revive a traditional form of
punishment that seeks to check crime with an itch in time.
Social
offenders or violators of Naga customary laws have over the ages
dreaded a cramped, triangular cage made from the logs of an indigenous
tree that irritates the skin.
The dread is more of humiliation or
loss of face within the community or clan than of spending at least a
day scratching furiously without any space to move.
Such itchy cages are referred to as khujli ghar in
Nagamese — a pidgin lingua franca — but each Naga community has its own
name. The Aos, one of the major tribes of Nagaland, call it Shi-ki that
means flesh-house.
“A
few villages where traditional practices are very strong still
prescribe this form of punishment, a deterrent for offenders of various
shades, including robbers and drug addicts. Many villages are trying to
revive it,” Sanen Pongen, the chairman of Chuchuyimlang village council
in Mokokchung district told The Hindu.
The cage is usually placed at a central spot in the village, usually in front of the morung or bachelor’s dormitory, for the inmate to be in full public view.
“The
cage is made of the logs of Masang-fung, a local tree that people avoid
because of the irritation it causes. It does not affect the palm but
people who make the cages have to be careful,” Mr. Pongen said.
A
prickly cage usually accommodates one offender —invariably a male — who
barely has space to sit for 24 hours or more than a week, depending on
the gravity of the offence. He can be fed by relatives periodically and
let out to answer nature’s call during the punishment term.
“Some local modifications aside, customary laws of all the Naga tribes are similar. The khujli ghar
too used to be common until lock-ups came up in police stations to
house the offenders and some forms of punishment began clashing with
those prescribed by Constitutional laws,” said Hesheto Chishi, a
customary law and Naga folklore researcher based in Dimapur town.
As
the founder of Indigenous Cultural Society, the only such in the
northeast affiliated to the UNESCO, he has been working on codifying the
customary laws and has co-authored Oral Narrative, a book on Sumi Naga laws published by the Ministry of Human Resources Development.
“It
is not proper to view the itchy cages from the prism of modern laws.
They have served a purpose for ages and have often proved to reform
offenders, as identity and family or clan reputation is very important
to a Naga,” Mr. Chishi, also a community chieftain, said.
Article
371(A) of the Constitution guarantees the preservation of the Naga
customary laws. The State also funds the customary courts in villages
and towns where cases — mostly dealing with land litigation,
money-lending and marital disputes — have a high rate of prompt
disposal.
A trickle of people have begun escaping the turmoil in Myanmar into
India, some of them police refusing to take part in the violent
crackdown. (Photo: AFP/STR
CHAMPHAI, India: When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot
at protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them in the Myanmar
town of Khampat on Feb 27, the police lance corporal said he refused.
"The
next day, an officer called to ask me if I will shoot," he said. The
27-year-old refused again, and then resigned from the force.
On Mar 1, he said he left his home and family behind in Khampat and
travelled for three days, mostly at night to avoid detection, before
crossing into India's northeastern Mizoram state.
"I had no
choice," Tha Peng told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday (Mar 9),
speaking via a translator. He gave only part of his name to protect his
identity. Reuters saw his police and national ID cards which confirmed
the name.
Tha Peng said he and six colleagues all disobeyed the Feb 27 order from a superior officer, whom he did not name.
Reuters could not independently verify his or other accounts gathered near the Myanmar-India border.
The
description of events was similar to that given to police in Mizoram on
Mar 1 by another Myanmar police lance corporal and three constables who
crossed into India, according to a classified internal police document
seen by Reuters.
The document was written by Mizoram police
officials and gives biographical details of the four individuals and
their account of why they fled. It was not addressed to specific people.
Riot police officers hold down a protester as they disperse protesters
in Tharkata Township on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Mar 6,
2021. (AP Photo)
"As the civil disobedience movement is gaining momentum and
protest(s) held by anti-coup protesters at different places we are
instructed to shoot at the protesters," they said in a joint statement
to Mizoram police.
"In such a scenario, we don't have the guts to shoot at our own people who are peaceful demonstrators," they said.
Myanmar's
military junta, which staged a coup on Feb 1 and deposed the country's
civilian government, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The
junta has said it is acting with utmost restraint in handling what it
has described as demonstrations by "riotous protesters" whom it accuses
of attacking police and harming national security and stability.
Tha
Peng's is among the first cases reported by the media of police fleeing
Myanmar after disobeying orders from the military junta's security
forces.
Daily protests against the coup are being staged across
the country and security forces have cracked down. More than 60
protesters have been killed and more than 1,800 detained, the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group, has said.
Reuters has not been able to confirm the figures independently.
Among the detainees is Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the civilian government.
Armed police stand guard on a major street to preven anti-coup demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, Mar 5, 2021. (Photo: AP)
DOZENS FLEE
Around
100 people from Myanmar, mostly policemen and their families, have
crossed over a porous border into India since the protests began,
according to a senior Indian official.
Several have taken shelter
in Mizoram's Champhai district bordering Myanmar, where Reuters
interviewed three Myanmar nationals who said they had served with the
police.
As
well as his ID cards, Tha Peng showed an undated photograph of him
wearing a Myanmar police uniform. He said he joined the force nine years
ago.
Tha Peng said that, according to police rules, protesters
should either be stopped by rubber bullets or shot below the knees.
Reuters could not verify police policies.
But he was given orders by his superiors to "shoot till they are dead", he added.
Protesters hold out bullet cartridges and ammunition for slingshots
after security forces fired on demonstrators at a rally against the
military coup in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
Ngun Hlei, who said he was posted as a
police constable in the city of Mandalay, said he had also received
orders to shoot. He did not give a date, nor specify whether the order
was to shoot to kill. He did not give details of any casualties.
The 23-year-old also gave only a part of his full name and carried his national ID card.
Tha
Peng and Ngun Hlei said they believed police were acting under orders
from Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw. They did not provide
evidence.
The other four Myanmar police agreed, according to the classified police document.
"The military pressured the police force who are mostly constables to confront the people," they said.
Anti-coup demonstrators are detained by police officers during a protest
against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb 26, 2021. (Photo:
REUTERS/Stringer)
Ngun Hlei said he was reprimanded for
disobeying orders and transferred. He sought help from pro-democracy
activists online and found his way by road to Mizoram's Vaphai village
on Mar 6.
The journey to India cost him around 200,000 Myanmar kyat (US$143), Ngun Hlei said.
Although
guarded by Indian paramilitary forces, the India-Myanmar border has a
"free movement regime", which allows people to venture a few miles into
Indian territory without requiring travel permits.
"DON'T WANT TO GO BACK"
Twenty-four-year-old
Dal said she had worked as a constable with Myanmar police in the
mountainside town of Falam in northwestern Myanmar. Reuters saw a
photograph of her police ID and verified the name.
Her job was
mostly administrative, including making lists of people detained by the
police. But as protests swelled in the wake of the coup, she said she
was instructed to try to catch female protesters - an order she refused.
Fearing imprisonment for siding with the protesters and their civil disobedience movement, she said she decided to flee Myanmar.
All three said that there was substantial support for the protesters within Myanmar's police force.
Police stand after they seized Sanchaung district in search of anti-coup
demonstrators in Yangon, Myanmar, on Mar 8, 2021. (Photo:
REUTERS/Stringer)
"Inside the police station, 90 per cent
support the protesters but there is no leader to unite them," said Tha
Peng, who left behind his wife and two young daughters, one
six-months-old.
Like some others who have crossed in recent days,
the three are scattered around Champhai, supported by a network of local
activists.
Saw
Htun Win, deputy commissioner of Myanmar's Falam district last week
wrote to Champhai's top government official, Deputy Commissioner Maria C
T Zuali, asking for eight policemen who had entered India to be returned to them "in order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbour countries".
Zuali confirmed she had received the letter, a copy of which has been seen by Reuters.
Zoramthanga,
Mizoram's chief minister, told Reuters that his administration would
provide temporary food and shelter to those fleeing Myanmar, but a
decision on repatriations was pending with India's federal government.
Tha Peng said that although he missed his family he feared returning to Myanmar.
"I don't want to go back," he said, sitting in a first-floor room overlooking rolling green hills that stretch into Myanmar.
PARIS (AFP) - France concealed the levels of radioactivity that
French Polynesia was exposed to during French nuclear tests in the
Pacific from 1966-1996, with almost the "entire population" of the
overseas territory infected, a report said on Tuesday (March 9).
Online investigation site Disclose said it had over two years
analysed some 2,000 pages of French military documents declassified in
2013 by the defence ministry concerning nuclear tests on the
archipelago.
It worked alongside the British modelling and documentation firm
Interprt as well as the Science and global security programme of the
University of Princeton in the United States, it said.
For the Centaur test carried out in July 1974, "according to our
calculations, based on a scientific reassessment of the doses received,
approximately 110,000 people were infected, almost the entire Polynesian
population at the time," it said.
Using the modelling of toxic clouds to back up the findings, Disclose
said it also showed how "French authorities have concealed the true
impact of nuclear testing on the health of Polynesians for more than 50
years".
It said the investigation was able to reassess the thyroid exposure
to radioactive doses of the inhabitants of the Gambier Islands, Tureia
and Tahiti during the six nuclear tests considered to be the most
contaminating in the history of French tests in the Pacific.
"Our estimates are between two and 10
times higher than those made by the French Atomic Energy Commission in
2006," Disclose said.
Disclose said its interpretation of existing data was different to
that of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
(CEA).
For example, for an aerial nuclear test called Aldebaran carried out
in 1966 on the Mururoa atoll, CEA scientists "considered that the local
population only drank riverwater but not rainwater".
However, many inhabitants of this archipelago drank rainwater, according to the investigation.
It added the examination of data also showed that CEA estimates of
radioactive soil deposits were under-estimated by more than 40 percent.
This CEA study served as the reference for the Compensation Committee
for Victims of Nuclear Tests (CIVEN) for studying the files of victims
of nuclear tests.
Up until now only 63 Polynesian civilians, excluding soldiers and
contractors, have received compensation, according to the investigative
media.
French soldiers in the Mururoa atoll of French Polynesia, where French forces conducted nuclear weapon tests.PHOTO: AFP
Here's why you should visit the floating islands in Manipur
Northeastern states in India are unique for their picturesque backdrops, lush greenery, and mountainous terrains.
But little is known about the mesmerizing Loktak Lake in Manipur, which is home to unique islands called phumdis.
Phumdis
are floating masses of vegetation, spanning 40 sqkm, that are of
different geometrical shapes, floating around the lake surface.
Read on to know more about these interesting islands.
Ecosystem: Home to over 400 animal species, 100 bird species
Phumdis are formed naturally when the foliage floating in the water piles up together over the course of many years.
These islands are also home to over 400 species of animals, 100 species of birds, and 200 species of aquatic plants.
The floating lakes are a source of livelihood to over 100,000 people who resort to fishing and other activities on the islands.
Floating park: Comprises the world's only floating park, Keibul Lamjao National Park
One of the largest masses of phumdis
comprises the world's biggest and only floating park, Keibul Lamjao
National Park, which is home to endangered species like brow-antlered
deer.
It is interesting to note that the soil of the park is
considered neither too marshy nor too hard to walk and the area can be
visited by a boat ride passing by colourful water plants.
Division: The lake is divided into northern, central, and southern regions
Loktak Lake is divided into northern, central, and southern regions. Each region is separated from the other by a large phumdi.
Between January and March, the phumdis are burned to construct fishing sites.
The central region of the lake was initially used as a water source, but locals have now converted that into artificial phumdis called athaphums for their fishing activities.
Accessibility: The floating lake is accessible by air, road, railways
Wondering how to get there?
Imphal airport, located 45km away, is the closest airport to the lake.
Rail travel can get a little hectic as the nearest station is at Dimapur, which is located 215km away from Imphal.
However,
road commute is the easiest, as numerous buses from different states
take you to Imphal, and from there, it's only a cab's ride away.
Imphal, Mar 8 : A rebel leader identified as Nando was ‘executed’ by a proscribed insurgent group on March 2, local media reports said on Sunday.
Police believe that the execution took place somewhere in a foreign
country.
Reports said that the kangaroo court found him guilty of
kidnapping and murdering Luiningla Elizabeth, an eight-year-old-student
and daughter of Francis Ngajokpa who was a Cabinet Minister.
The student of class three was kidnapped from Little Flower School in Imphal on November 4, 2003, by some armed persons.
Despite a major manhunt, she could not be traced. Her body stuffed in a gunny bag was found on November 12.
Eventually, Nando was arrested by a special team and remanded in judicial custody.
Later, he was lodged in the security ward of J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, as he had complained of illness.
Nando escaped from the security ward on March 26, 2019. Officials are
yet to reconstruct the scene as to how he escaped despite the
deployment of armed police guards.
Now the
government has shortlisted four mid-sized state-run banks for
privatisation. Earlier, the government was considering only two public
sector banks but now it plans to privatise four banks.
According
to a tweet by journalist Aadesh Rawal, the government has taken the call
to do so. The four banks shortlisted are Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of
India, Indian Overseas Bank and the Central Bank of India.
During the budget 2021, Sitharaman announced the plan to privatise
two state-run banks, other than IDBI Bank. It is assumed that the banks
which are not in the list of mergers will undergo privatisation process.
The government is in the process of merging 13 banks into five banks.
In the past, an analyst said Punjab and Sind Bank and
Bank of Maharashtra looked probable candidates for privatisation. This
is mainly because of the six banks kept out of merger, Indian Overseas
Bank, Central Bank and UCO Bank are under PCA (prompt-corrective
action).
A trickle of people have begun escaping the turmoil in Myanmar into
India, some of them police refusing to take part in the violent
crackdown. (Photo: AFP/STR
