A day after the U.P. police issued an advisory that reports of women’s braids being chopped were baseless rumours, several cases of mysterious hair-chopping incidents were reported from different parts of western Uttar Pradesh, including Aligarh, Saharanpur, Bulandshahr, Agra, Bijnore, Hapur and Moradabad.
The Agra police, however, said six of the cases turned out to be false.
In the absence of official complaints, all the investigation by the police so far was in response to oral reports of such incidents.
On Saturday, eight cases of braid-chopping were reported from Tappal, Iglas, Khair, Gonda, Akbarabad and Jalali areas of Aligarh. Four new cases were reported from Bulandshahr, besides two more from Moradabad.
‘Organised propaganda’
The Superintendent of Police (SP) Bulandshahr, Praveen Ranjan, said Bilkis (45) and Jaishree (25) had claimed that their hair was cut. A student of Class 9 in Khurja also reported that her hair was chopped while she was returning from tuition. Mr. Ranjan, however, termed the incidents “organised propaganda”.
The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Agra, Dinesh Chandra Dubey, informed the media on Saturday that as many as six of the complaints reported from Agra were found to be false. “No one from outside the house had come and chopped anyone’s hair. In every case, it was either done by someone in the family or by the woman herself,” Mr. Dubey said.
Mr. Dubey cited the case of Sonu, a resident of Dauki area of Agra. He said Sonu had chopped the hair of his mother Prakash Devi, after allegedly beating up Man Devi, an elderly Dalit woman, who died subsequently. He did this to justify the lynching of Man Devi, Mr. Dubey said. Ms. Devi was allegedly lynched by Sonu and his friends three days ago, and local residents had informed the police that she was beaten up on suspicion of being the “hair-chopping witch”.