Cops probe if women cut their own braid, call in counsellors
MYSTERY Police say victims maintained they had neither seen nor felt anyone chop their hair
When police on Monday began probing the mysterious hair chopping incidents in a Delhi village, some investigators believed the women could have been cutting their own braids.
The police officials said they got similar reports from Rajasthan and Haryana, where such incidents have occurred in the recent past. They had believed that the women could be doing this to “draw attention” or “gain sympathy”.
So, they seized the chopped pieces of hair as well as the scissors from the homes of the three women who reported the incident in Chhawla’s Kanganheri village. This “proof” has been sent for forensic examination.
On Tuesday, the investigators also called in a few counsellors to interact with the three women victims, all aged between 45 and 52. They were almost certain that the women would “confess” to chopping their own hair.
However, during the lengthy “counselling”, the three women stuck to their statements that they had neither seen nor felt anyone chopping their hair. Contrary to police’s expectations, the women maintained that they did not chop their hair.
While police will go ahead with another round of counselling on Wednesday, they remained in the dark 48 hours after the third case was reported from the village.
The victims and their family members, however, shot down the police theory. “They (counsellors) think I cut my own hair. Why would I do that,” a woman said after the counselling.
The son of another victim said the police had been trying to bury the case right from the start. “First, they suggested that family members were involved in the mischief. Then they tried to pass off the incidents as the handiwork of thieves... If they don’t want to probe the incidents honestly, they must tell us. We will take back our complaints,” said the son of one of the women.
But Dependra Pathak, Delhi Police spokesperson, insisted that the probe was being done in the right earnest. “We involved counsellors to talk to the victims in detail so that we have all the aspects of the incidents which will help us identify the mischief mongers,” said Pathak.
He called on the village leaders to prevent rumours about role of supernatural powers in the incidents from spreading.
Meanwhile, panic also spread in nearby Palam on Tuesday when a 47-year-old woman claimed that her hair was chopped off. She had found some pieces of hair on her saree.