Braid Chopping Takes a Political Turn

Srinagar—It has been almost a month now but there is no stopping of incidents of braid chopping in Kashmir Valley. While rising number of cases, almost 80 attempts now, have terrorised women folk, it has provided fodder to rumour mills and added political dimension to it in the Kashmir Valley.

The women population are now scared to step out of their houses and some have even stopped attending schools in south Kashmir.

The maximum cases—around three dozen—were reported from south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, where it started nearly a month ago.

The issue has started to snowball into a major political crisis as government remains clueless and incapable to nab alleged culprits or unravel the conspiracy, if any, behind these incidents.

With the credibility crisis that the government and its institutions face, locals have started blaming ‘intelligence agencies’ and even the ‘police’ for these incidents.

“We have seen this all. In 90s, ghosts, who were actually troopers, were created out to scare people. The government is using the old trick to push people into fear psychosis again. But this time, it may not work,” said Mohammad Jabbar of Khaniyar, who participated in the protests triggered by braid cutting of a woman at Kaw Mohalla.

The Joint Resistance Leadership has already called for protests against the “shameful rise” of incidents of braid chopping likening it to outraging the modesty of Kashmiri woman.

[[{“type”:”media”,”fid”:”25324″,”view_mode”:”wysiwyg”,”instance_fields”:”override”}]]

They alleged that the braid chopping incidents are ‘an attempt to outrage the chastity and dignity of the women of Kashmir’ and ‘government was shielding the criminals’. “They want to push every household into perpetual fear to ensure that there’s a psychiatric patient in every household of the Valley,” the leaders said.

Special investigation teams and round the clock helplines have been also set up in every district to probe the incidents. Police has also announced a reward of Rs 6 lakh to anybody who can give leads on the braid choppers.

While no arrests have been made so far, the police has threatened legal action against those spreading braid-chopping rumours.

J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also assured stern action against the culprits and public avowed to get to the root of the incident and unmask those behind such incidents.

At some places, locals have caught ‘innocent people’ suspecting them of being the culprits. For example in Delina Baramulla, locals thrashed a boy suspecting him to be a braid chopper. He revealed to police that he was there to meet his girl friend.

In Srinagar’s BabaDemb area, two women who gate crashed into a wedding late afternoon to relish Wazawaan were also caught on suspicion of being burqa clad braid choppers. In Kulgam, locals blamed Army of rescuing an alleged braid chopper after locals managed to get hold of him. They held the protest against the government for many hours.

“We have made good progress in the investigations and identified some offenders who were involved in the incidents. There’s an angle of personal enmity emerging in some cases. But, in many cases the victims have not identified any offender. In some cases there are stories of people saying the attacker turned into a duck or a dog. So, this is a tricky investigation,” SSP, Kulgam, Sridhar Patil, said.

The mystery is only growing. On Thursday a teenage girl, who claimed to be a victim of braid chopping at Khawajabagh Baramulla, informed police that “braid chopper made entry through wall and escaped through closed door.”

In a statement issued here, a police spokesman said that a braid chopping incident having taken place at Khawaja Bagh Baramulla was reported to Police Station Baramulla and it preliminary investigation revealed the alleged victim was hysterical.

“The girl claimed that braid chopper made entry through wall and escaped through closed door which manifests conversion disorder (Hysteria),” the spokesman said.

While police was busy in Khawajabagh, a fresh incident of braid chopping surfaced in Srinagar, this time in the posh Gulberg colony where masked men sneaked into a house and cut off a 10-year-old girl’s hair as she slept.

Though several instances of braid-chopping have been reported in the valley, the police said this is the first time that the miscreants sneaked into a house at night time.

The father of the girl, a Class 4 student, told police that they could have entered and left the house through a window, which he found open after last night’s incident. Police have started an investigation into the matter and are probing the case for further details.

Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now

MONTHLY	Rs 100
YEARLY	Rs 1000
LIFETIME	Rs 10000

CLICK FOR DETAILS