A 70-year-old man, mistaken to be a braid-chopper, died after he was hit by a brick late on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, the police said on Friday, according to the Greater Kashmir.
Abdul Salam Wani was attacked with a brick in Danter village when he came out of his house to relieve himself, the report said. It is still unclear who threw the brick at him.
“He ventured out of his house out in the night,” The Hindu quoted a local resident as saying. “Someone mistook him for a braid-chopper and smashed his head with a brick. He died in the hospital later.”
The Srinagar administration had imposed restrictions in many parts of the city on Friday to prevent protests against the growing incidents of women’s braids being cut in the Valley. The restrictions under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as on internet services were withdrawn only late on Friday.
The administration has been under pressure to solve the cases of braid chopping in Jammu and Kashmir, as separatists allege security forces were behind these incidents. The Valley reported its first braid chopping in September, a month after Jammu had reported several similar incidents.
In all, according to the police, 35 cases of braid chopping have been reported from Kashmir so far and 192 from the Jammu division.
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