On December 20th, a Maulana was detained during the Muzzafarnagar protests against CAA for allegedly pelting stones at the police during the rally. In police custody, Maulana who is above 60 years of age, was allegedly forced to strip naked and physically tortured during his interrogation.
In a more horrific turn of events, the police also detained and assaulted Maulana’s students residing in Saadat hostel, where he is a caretaker. According to locals, many of the residents of the hostel were minors and orphans.
According to local Congress leader Salman Saeed, “The boys were denied access to the toilet at times, and some of them suffered rectal bleeding from the torture“. He also claimed that some were forced to chant “Jai Shree Ram”.
As per one of Maulana’s relatives, he has been traumatised due to the incident, “He is mentally scarred. He told us the police made him wish he were dead. He was humiliated so much that he is refusing to show his face to relatives coming to see him. He sobs even in his sleep.”
The Muzzafarnagar police have also been accused of raping the minors that were detained. This has led to an outrage on social media; many people including Swara Bhasker and Zainab Sikander condemned the act, especially the molestation of minors. However, there were a few people who claimed that Maulana was photographed pelting stones at the police during the protests. This claim has been debunked by The Quint, the news outlet revealed that the picture was not of Maulana.
While the protests in many parts of the country are cooling down, police brutality continues in some areas of the country.