Braid vigilantes prowl the Valley
UP IN ARMS As coordination among men on vigil increases on Whatsapp, ground realities change for common Kashmiris gripped by fear with state police giving in to helplessness
SRINAGAR: It is around 9.30pm. A dozen young men, armed with sticks, knives and small axes have gathered at a small fourway intersection in a congested locality on the outskirts of Srinagar. The autumn night is chilly and the men light a bonfire before turning to their phones for their task — protecting the locality from the scourge of what they call “braid choppers”.
Providing them live updates is a group on instant messaging platform Whatsapp titled ‘Antibraid-chopping Squad’, comprising 35 locals who have volunteered to keep vigil against the mass panic and hysteria sweeping Kashmir that have sparked violence and pushed law and order to the brink of collapse.
“Every night we hear about braid-chopping incidents. Our sisters and mothers are being targeted — they are not safe even inside the homes. We can’t let this happen. We have taken it upon ourselves to safeguard their honour,” says Mohammad Hakim* (30), one of the members of the vigilante group.
He continues, “Social media, especially Whatsapp, has helped us connect to youth who want to work against braid-choppers. For the last four days, no one in our group has slept for a minute till 4am. It’s a routine — there will be an attack attempted at one house or the other. And we have to run.”
Such vigilante groups have mushroomed in the past month across Kashmir, which has seen at least 100 incidents of “braid chopping”, where women allege unknown assailants sprayed a chemical to knock them unconscious and then cut their braid.
The hysteria around the bizarre phenomenon swept north India earlier this year but didn’t stoke tensions as much as it has done in the Valley. With complaints mounting, the police are under increasing pressure but have not arrested a single suspect, instead blaming alleged victims for not cooperating.
The frustration has given way to vigilante groups that have thrashed, maimed and harassed people – foreigners, tourists, soldiers – who are deemed suspicious. On Diwali, mobs in Srinagar tried to drown a man it suspected of chopping braids. A day later, vigilantes tried to set on fire a mentally-challenged man.
“I believe criminal and antisocial elements have joined the fray, or some men are settling personal scores with women, and they are ensuring that confusion and mayhem continue in Kashmir,” said Nayeema Mehjoor, chairperson of the state commission for women.
In Zakura locality, the night is young and the men have taken positions. A few kilometers from Hakim, a section of the area’s vigilante group – six men armed with sticks – is keeping a check on the traffic. Every car or motorbike coming into the locality was stopped and identity of travellers verified.
With a grimace, Hakim says, “Last night, at 2.30am, we missed the culprit by a few minutes. Today or tomorrow we will catch him. And we will not beat him up. We will ask him what his motive is and who has sent him.”
On Whatsapp, the group has four administrators and representatives from four areas. “Whenever suspicious movement is reported, the representative puts an alert on the group and we run towards the spot,” said Tariq* (25), a vigilante.
He holds a stick, onto which he has fitted heavy, rusty nails. “This won’t kill the braid-chopper, but injure him. He can’t run after I hit him with this,” he says.
Protests over braid-chopping have paralysed the state with shutdowns, stone pelting and road blockades. Many, including the Opposition, blame chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for not doing enough to protect women. But the police, who this month doubled the bounty for any information on braid chopping to ₹6 lakh, say they are helpless.
“None of the victims or their family members talk clearly about what happened. There is immense hullabaloo but cooperation to take investigation forward is lacking,” inspector general of police, Kashmir, Muneer Khan told reporters on Monday.
In the middle of all this, the common Kashmiri, especially women, are gripped by fear. “It appears like a diversionary tactic by the state to keep Kashmiris busy with something trivial. Even my three-year-old daughtheir ter keeps saying ki ‘choti kaatne waala aaega’(braid chopper will come),’ said a woman, who did not want to be named.
Back at Zakura, Hakim and his friends have spent five hours patrolling the narrow maze but to no avail. Around 2.30am, the lull breaks. An alert rings on the group that a suspected braidchopper has been spotted at a home in the vicinity. The men run, their whistles meant to alert people reverberating in the air.
A pick-up truck is spotted along an adjacent road and the vigilantes, in the heat of the moment, decide to chase it on foot – believing the alleged assaulter escaped in it. “We missed him even today. Let’s see tomorrow,” Hakim says.