On October 25, Nagaland woke up to the chilling news of the suspected murder of 22-year-old athlete Vihozhonu Zao. Her body was discovered early that morning near her home in Old Minister’s Hill, Kohima. It was found behind a ring well, covered with a sack, cloth, and firewood. The tragic case shook the entire region, particularly Kohima, where women no longer feel safe stepping out of their homes alone.
Within twelve days of the discovery, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested the accused. What emerged as the motive behind the killing was not only shocking but also exposed the deeply entrenched patriarchal mindset in our society. According to the police press conference following the arrest, the accused was Samuel Zao, of Nepali descent and the adopted uncle of the victim.
As narrated by the accused, on the day of the incident he asked Vihozhonu to make him a cup of tea. She refused and continued using her phone. Unable to accept this refusal, he allegedly flew into a rage, picked up a piece of firewood, and struck her on the head, leading to her death. It is deeply disturbing—and heartbreaking—that a woman could lose her life simply for refusing to make a cup of tea.
This incident lays bare the grim reality of how little value, dignity, or autonomy is afforded to women. Domestic and kitchen work have long been normalised as a woman’s responsibility, to the extent that a 31-year-old man found a refusal so offensive that it provoked lethal violence. A woman was killed not for defiance, but for exercising the simplest choice—to say no.
This is not the Nagaland many of us grew up in. For decades, the state prided itself on being among the safest places in the country. Yet, in recent years, cases of murder, rape, and violence against women have surfaced with alarming regularity.
In April, another horrific case emerged from Pimla village in Chümoukedima, where a 35-year-old vegetable vendor was raped and murdered. Her body was found half-clothed, her throat slit. In August, a 19-year-old attempted to rape and murder a mother of four in Kohima. These are only the cases that reached public attention. Many others are reported quietly, and countless more remain unheard.
In today’s Nagaland, saying “no” has become life-threatening for women. From sexual violence to domestic abuse, women are increasingly being reduced to lives deemed expendable, stripped of worth and agency.
Nagaland, a Christian state once celebrated for its peace and harmony, is no longer a place where women feel safe. Fear now extends beyond nighttime streets into broad daylight. A 2016 The Hindu article described Nagaland as the safest state for women—an irony that feels painfully distant today.
Worse still, women are no longer safe even within their own homes. Vihozhonu could never have imagined that her own uncle would take her life, nor that refusing a trivial request would cost her everything. It feels as though we have lost the Nagaland we once knew. This new reality is frightening, violent, and deeply unsafe for women.
The kind of violence we once read about in distant headlines is now unfolding in our kitchens and neighbourhoods. Social media is filled with women in Kohima speaking openly about their fear of stepping outside alone. For years, women travelling to cities like Delhi were advised to carry pepper spray. Today, women in Kohima feel the same need—an indictment of how unsafe they now feel in their own homeland.
Women have the right to say “no,” and it is society’s responsibility to ensure they can do so without fear of violence or death. The murder of Vihozhonu Zao has left a permanent scar on Nagaland—a woman killed for refusing to make a cup of tea, a chilling reminder of how casually women’s lives are devalued.
It is time for Naga society to wake up, reflect, and take responsibility—to ensure safety, dignity, and respect for its women before more lives are lost.
Views expressed are that of the author and do not reflect EastMojo’s stnace on this or any other issue.
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