Braid Chopping: Study teams fail to produce results as victims unwilling to ‘co-operate’
Srinagar: The teams formed to study the braid chopping incidents and examine the victims have expressed fears about the risks being involved while ‘dealing’ with the victims and their attendants. Some of the teams who were tasked to carry out the study have reported, that the victims and their attendants are making it difficult to carry out a thorough examination of the ‘victims’.
Sources said that the teams have observed that victims during the course of examination became violent, while some attendants of patients even declined examination of the victims saying that the teams were sent to label the victims as ‘crazy.’
Sources say that the victims and their families were brought on the pretext of relief and rehabilitation, and were not told that they had to undergo medical examination.
“Teams felt that there was a huge risk involved during the visits from the victims and families, who were brought for assessment on the pretext of ‘relief and rehabilitation.’
As of now it has been a difficult job for the teams to carry on with the medical examination of the victims, however, as per sources teams actually had to convince the families that they had come to assess the psychological trauma experienced by the victim and the family during the incident of braid chopping.
The reports submitted have suggested sustained and continuous psychiatric counselling for establishing a concrete link between such psychiatric issues and diagnosis and present braid chopping incidents.
“It is mandatory to assess these victims by psychometric tools. During this, each victim would need at least 03 hours for assessment and 02 hours for finalization of report, so it would be highly desirable to dedicate a team of clinical Psychologists to undertake such extensive assessment preferably in in-patient settings at tertiary care mental health institute,” the reports have recommended.
Reports have further said that the there is a need of obtaining the services of forensic experts, as most of the patients did not had the chopped off part of their hair with them and many of them did not agree to expose their hair. Thus it is important to get these facts verified by a forensic expert.
Pertinently, the authorities had formed several teams in various districts of Kashmir to study the braid chopping incidents, and were asked to suggest a way forward, however, in district Srinagar, the team has not been able to come up with any report, as there have been less number of victims who have actually visited the hospitals for medical examinations.
KV Correspondent
