Students hair cut in India-different reaction

I recently blogged a video clip regarding a young girl who had a braid cut from her head by her teacher. The teacher claimed to have done it in frustration because the child was playing with her beaded hair. I felt that everyone involved under-reacted. The teacher was not suspended, she was not charged with assault or abuse and I have yet to hear of a law suit. By comparison in India in February this occurred:

Teacher snips off students’ hair

Raktima Bose

KOLKATA: In a bizarre incident, a teacher snipped off the hair of five students in a school in Burdwan district of West Bengal for allegedly not adhering to the institute’s code of conduct related to hairdo.

The teacher, Manisha Ray, cut short the hair of the students for violating the rule of tying two plaits and coming with with a single plait during the morning prayers. As news of the incident spread, irate guardians entered the school premises in protest. They locked the teachers in a room and demanded Ms. Ray’s suspension. The police arrested Ms. Ray following complaints by the guardians of the students whose hair was cut off.

“We have arrested the teacher, based on a complaint. Charges against her will be framed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code,” Burdwan’s Additional Superintendent of Police Utpal Naskar said.

Members of the school’s managing committee later suspended Ms. Ray indefinitely from service.

The Hindu
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 19, 2009

I wonder if the child in the US got the reaction she did because her hair is seen as less beautiful/valuable? or if it was just because the Indian Teacher "assaulted" more than one student?