WOMAN KNOCKED OUT, HAIR CHOPPED

SRINAGAR: On October 4, Suneema (name changed), 32, was alone at home in the old city in Srinagar. Her mother-in-law and other family members had stepped out to see a doctor. It was afternoon and she was sitting on the verandah when she heard somebody jumping on to their compound. Suneema says that she had locked the main gate of their house following the incidents of braid-chopping across Kashmir. As she turned, she says, she saw two men, “dark in complexion with big moustaches” approaching her. Before she could react, she says, one of the men sprinkled something into her eyes and she felt unconscious. When she regained her consciousness she says she saw her hair braid chopped off.