Braid-chopping: 'Mentally-challenged' man, another person

Two persons, including a "mentally challenged" man, were today rescued from mob which tried to kill them suspecting them of being braid-choppers, in Sopore and Hazratbal areas of Jammu and Kashmir, police said today.
The police received information that residents had nabbed an alleged braid-chopper in Fruit Mandi area of Sopore, 52 kilometres from Srinagar, a police spokesman said.
"A police party immediately rushed to the spot and found that a mob was beating a person ruthlessly. The miscreants was trying to set the person ablaze. Some miscreants were trying to run a tractor over him," the spokesman said.
The victim, Wasim Ahmad Tantray, was rescued by the police team, he said, adding that Tantray was "reportedly mentally challenged".

"Tantray was immediately rushed to a hospital in Sopore. As the condition of the injured is stated to be critical, he was referred to a hospital in Srinagar," the spokesman said.
He said the police has registered an FIR and identified the culprits involved in the incident.

Meanwhile in another incident, police rescued a man from a mob in Hazratbal area in Srinagar.
The man had gone to the shrine to offer pre-dawn prayers when he was caught by a group of people on the suspicion he was a braid-chopper.
"The person tried hard to satisfy the people around him that he is not any braid-chopper, but had merely come to the shrine for prayers," the police said in a statement.

However, they refused to believe him and beat him up. They also tried to drown him in the Dal Lake to force him confess he was a braid-chopper, according to the police.
"The police party in a very professional manner rescued the person from being lynched," the police added.
More than 130 braid-chopping incidents have been reported from parts of Kashmir over the past one month, but no arrest has been made so far in connection with the incidents.
Special investigation teams have been formed to nab the culprits involved in such incidents, which has led to panic among people, especially the women.

The police has announced a reward of Rs six lakh for any information leading to the arrest of braid-choppers.