SSP Rana Bahadur Chand, chief of Metropolitan Police Range Office, Hanumandhoka, said, “The recent rise in the criminal activities in the valley compelled us to take action but our focus was never solely on long hairs and piercing.” [break]
Though the majority of those who were briefly arrested happened to have long hair and piercing, we did not use force to cut their hairs and remove their ear rings, he said.
Contrary to the police claim, social media and different newspapers were full of reports and criticisms of police excesses. Chattra Ghale (name changed), 22, of Nayabazar told Republica that his hair was forcefully cut soon after he was arrested after which he was brought to Sohrakhutte Police Station.
SSP Chand said, “We cut the hair of some of the arrested only after speaking to their parents.”
“We know that targeting people with long hair is not the legitimate and scientific way of dealing with hooliganism,” he added.
“We detained only those youths who were engaged in suspicious activities and enquired about them with their guardians and parents,” he said.
According to DSP Chakra Bahadur Singh, spokesperson at MPRO, said that about 1300 people have been arrested till Wednesday and out of them some people are still under custody after they were found to be involved in different unlawful activities.
Police had begun the campaign on February 25. During the campaign many innocent people also felt that they were being bothered by the police for no reason.
However, the police has said that the campaign will continue until the crime rates in the valley will come down.
I request media persons and other stakeholders to cooperate with us in our drive against crime and hooliganism, SSP Chand said.
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