Rising braid-chopping incidents have given fresh lease of life to separatists who have called for a Kashmir bandh on Saturday. They have asked traders, transporters and common people to suspend their routine activities.
Shock, anger and outrage gripped Kashmir Valley after a frenzied mob mistook a mentally challenged man as a braid chopper and tried to burn him alive and run a tractor over him in the apple-rich township of Sopore. Also, a vigilante group tried to drown a devotee in the Dal Lake near the revered Dargah Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar.
Rising braid-chopping incidents have given fresh lease of life to separatists who have called for a Kashmir bandh on Saturday. They have asked traders, transporters and common people to suspend their routine activities.
Wasim Ahmad Tantray, a mentally challenged person, suffered serious wounds when a vigilante mob stripped and ruthlessly thrashed him on the pretext of being a braid chopper at Fruit Mandi area in Sopore.
The police said the mob also burnt hay and tried to immolate Tantray alive even as some people tried to run a tractor over him. Cops immediately rushed to the spot and rescued him in an injured condition. He was rushed to a local hospital from where he was shifted to Srinagar for treatment.
The police said his condition was critical. Later a four-minute video of the barbarism was posted on social media and circulated on WhatsApp groups.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Sopore, Harmeet Singh, said around 500 to 800 people had swooped on Tantray and were trying to burn him alive. "We faced law and order situation. Timely action of police has saved his life", he said.
The police have registered a case of attempt to murder, and a massive hunt has been launched to nab the mobsters. "We have identified the people. We will soon arrest them. We appeal to people not to take law into their hands", said Singh.
In another incident, a devotee who wanted to pay obeisance at the Dargah Hazratbal and meet his brother at University of Kashmir, was stripped and lashed by a vigilante mob before being ferried in a Shikara only to be thrown into the Dal Lake. The police said he was suspected of being a braid chopper.
"He tried hard to persuade the mob that he is not a braid chopper but has come to offer prayers at the shrine. He also told the crowd that his brother is studying in neighbouring University of Kashmir and he had come to meet him. Crowd did not listen to him. Just to elicit confession from him, they tried to lynch this man", said a police officer.
The police later rushed to the spot and rescued the man though cops faced stiff resistance with people pelting stones. The police have registered a case and the people behind this incident are being identified.
The fresh incidents come against the backdrop of a mob thrashing and stripping Army men in north and central Kashmir. More than five people were injured when security forces opened fire after a mob ghearoed them in Pahalgam after a braid-chopping incident.
More than 150 braid-chopping cases have been reported from Kashmir alone. The police said the victims and families are not cooperating with the investigators. The police have decided to conduct scientific tests and take blood samples to find out what kind of spray is being used for making women unconscious.
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