Waseem Ahmad Tantray, 20, a mentally-challenged young man, is lying semi-unconscious on bed no 12 of the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) in Srinagar – the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Both his hands are fractured, his entire back is bruised, and the left side of his forehead is scabbed.
Tantray, a resident of Shakwara area of North Kashmir’s Sopore, was ruthlessly beaten by a vigilante group and was about to be set on fire in Sopore’s fruit mandi on 19 October.
The incident was recorded on video, which went viral on social networking platforms and has left the Valley shocked as everyone berated the act in unison.
Tantray’s uncle, who is attending to him in the hospital, says his nephew is suffering from mental trauma.
Kashmir has witnessed unprecedented rise in braid chopping incidents, and consequently, it has given rise to vigilantism – a phenomenon unheard of in this part of the world.
There have been numerous incidents in which people have been beaten and bunted on suspicion of being braid choppers.
With over 400 incidents of braid chopping being reported in around two months, vigilante groups of local men, mostly young, have mushroomed across Kashmir Valley, where women allege unknown assailants spray chemicals to knock them unconscious and then chop their braids.
Such incidents have gripped the Valley with fear as well as anger, and now the situation has taken a gruesome turn.
In another incident, a vigilante group tried to drown a youth in the Dal Lake, who had gone to offer morning prayers at the Hazratbal shrine. The police said he was suspected of being a braid chopper.
Many incidents have been reported about vigilante groups thrashing suspected braid choppers, who later turned out to be innocent.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti claimed that it was an attempt to create “mass hysteria.”
Mufti, in a tweet, recently wrote that the braid-chopping was an attempt “to create mass hysteria and undermine the dignity of the women in the state.”
As of now, braid chopping and consequent vigilantism is the talk of the town. One hopes vigilantism is just reaction to an incident and does not become a routine phenomenon in the days to come. Conflict-ridden Kashmir can’t afford to endure recurrence of such a bizarre overreaction.
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Video Producer: Srishti Tyagi
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
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