Similar incidents were also reported throughout India, particularly in the northern states of Delhi, Bihar, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir.
Three days before the June 23 event, a similar incident was reported in Pipar City, Jodhpur District, where a girl's hair had been found cut when she awoke in the morning.
On July 6, 2017, the Hindustan Times reported that two girls from Rajasthan, aged 13 and 14 years old, and both unknown to each other, were victims of additional hair incidents.
[3] On July 8, 2017, the BBC reported that many western municipalities including Bikaner, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, and Jalore districts had been affected by these incidents.
[7] On August 2, a 62-year-old woman was killed by angry villagers in Agra district for being accused as a "witch" who cut the braids of girls.
[further explanation needed] There have been more than 200 incidents of women being attacked and often knocked unconscious by men in balaclavas, who then chop off their traditional hair braids.
Officers had no solid leads or suspects, and Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) had to respond to a surge of revenge attacks by vigilantes armed with knives, cricket bats, and iron rods.
The initial police response to the braid attacks, which mainly occurred inside people's homes, was to suggest the victims were suffering from hallucinations.
[citation needed] Residents are also suspicious of the Indian authorities, and some have accused soldiers and police of staging the attacks or protecting those responsible.
In many incidents, the police and Indian Army appeared to aid the braid choppers in escaping by taking and saving them from public vigilantes.
[further explanation needed] A similar case occurred on August 9, when in Moradabad district a man killed a honey badger accused of eating or chopping women's hair, but due to lack of evidence, this report faced negligence.