MEERUT: His plastered hand resting on an arm sling and other exposed parts of the body bearing signs of extreme brutality, a viral photograph of a Shia cleric , 72, is doing the rounds of social media, evoking sharp condemnation from various quarters and putting Muzaffarnagar police in the dock for its “excesses” on December 20 evening.

Not only Asad Raza Hussaini, scores of students of his madrassa-cum-orphanage were also injured in the alleged police crackdown. Eleven of them were sent to jail. When contacted, local police denied the charges and said that they had entered the premises while chasing the violent protestors.

Hussaini, principal of a madrassa near Muzaffarnagar’s Minakshi Chowk and also in-charge of an orphanage, was allegedly picked up by police along with 40 students of the seminary during clashes on December 20.

While the family of the renowned Muslim cleric has distanced itself from media, staffers at the orphanage narrated horrific ordeal. “A contingent of at least 200 policemen forcibly entered the premises. They attacked everyone who came in their way and did not even spare minor children,” said Naeem, a staffer working at the madrassa-cum-orphanage.

Sources said several inmates of the orphanage, including minors as young as 9-year-old, were beaten with sticks by the raiding police team. Some students sustained fractures, source said.

“Hussaini has always kept a distance from local politics, and had dedicated his life for others. He was dragged out of the campus, taken to a discreet location and assaulted for hours before he was let off in the wee hours of December 21 following intervention of influential people from the region,” Naeem said.

“There was a mob of at least 50,000 people, between Minakshi Chowk and Mahaveer Chowk, which was attacking police and indulging in violence and vandalism. When we tried to contain the mob, a group went inside the premises and began firing at us from inside the campus. We also entered the premises and then arrested 70 people,” said Satpal Antil, Muzaffarnagar SP (city).

“All the students of the madrassa who were identified by the management were released. Later, the management had lauded our efforts in swiftly releasing the students of the madrassa,” the SP claimed.

Meanwhile, madrassa staffers claimed that out of the 39 inmates of the orphanage who were initially detained by the police, only 28 were released and 11 were sent to jail.“We are hardly speaking to the media against the police crackdown,” another madrassa staffer, on the condition of anonymity, told TOI.

