Custom, Crowd and Rumour at the Hornbill Festival
You are on law-and-order duty at the Kisama Heritage Village during the Hornbill Festival on 3 December. At 9:40 a.m., a group of 11 tourists from outside the State wants to enter a morung and photograph a ceremonial drum kept inside. An elder of the host village objects and says the area is under genna until noon. One tourist argues, "It is a government festival, so everything is public." Meanwhile, a rumour is moving through the crowd that a particular tribe's dance has been cancelled after a clash, and two groups of young men have begun shouting near the food stalls. Your senior officer is 400 metres away at the main arena and the public-address announcer is at the control room beside you. The festival runs from 1 to 10 December and the village is about 12 km from Kohima.
1. Set out, in order, what you would do at the morung, and explain the reasoning behind each step.
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First, position myself between the group and the entrance rather than inside it, and ask both sides to step back a few paces so that the dispute is not conducted at the doorway. Second, hear the elder out in front of the tourists, because the restriction is the elder's to state, not mine to explain for him; my role is to hold the line while he speaks, not to negotiate on the community's behalf. Third, tell the tourists plainly that the morung is not open until noon and that entry will not be facilitated today, offering the alternative of the arena and the craft stalls. Fourth, note the names of any tourist who refuses and continues to press, and inform the senior officer by wireless.
The reasoning is that the festival is a showcase of living custom, not a museum where a ticket purchases access to everything. A morung is a traditional community house and the drum inside has ceremonial significance; a photograph taken against an elder's refusal is not a minor discourtesy but a flashpoint that can turn a crowd against all visitors. The genna restriction is a customary observance, and the police role is to protect the community's right to observe it while keeping public order, not to decide whether the custom is reasonable.
2. Brief the tourists accurately in three short points, correcting the claim that a government festival makes everything public.
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Point one: the Hornbill Festival is held from 1 to 10 December at the Kisama Heritage Village, about 12 km from Kohima, and it is organised by the State to present Naga heritage. State organisation makes the grounds public; it does not convert every structure inside them into a public exhibit.
Point two: a morung is a traditional community house of a village, associated with the village's social and ceremonial life. It is not a display stall. Photography inside, and particularly of ceremonial objects such as drums, is subject to the host community's permission.
Point three: genna is a customary period of restriction observed by the community, during which certain activities and places are closed. It is a matter of custom, and the police will enforce the restriction as a lawful instruction of the host village, not because the police agree or disagree with it.
I would add the practical line that keeps the encounter calm: the arena events continue through the morning, and the group loses nothing by returning after noon. The correction is delivered as information, not as a lecture, because the aim is compliance and goodwill, not victory in an argument.
3. Two groups are shouting near the food stalls over the rumour. What do you do, and what do you deliberately not do?
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I would move immediately to the food stalls with any available colleague, place myself between the two groups and get them to separate by a few metres, and identify the two or three loudest voices to engage first. I would not repeat the rumour while asking about it; instead I would ask each side what they have actually seen, then tell them the official position, which is that the control room has not announced any cancellation. I would then request the announcer to state the confirmed programme for the day over the public address, because an official voice reaches the whole crowd at once and removes the vacuum a rumour feeds on.
What I deliberately do not do is confirm or deny the cancellation before the control room verifies it with the organisers. A denial that turns out to be wrong destroys the credibility that is needed to calm the next incident, and confirming it would create the very crowd movement we are trying to prevent. I would also avoid attributing blame to either group on the spot, and avoid any physical handling unless a person is being harmed. The senior officer is informed at once, and the exchange is recorded afterwards, so that the incident is documented rather than settled informally.