New Delhi, June 5: The National Commission for Minorities has accused Haryana police of "abetting" the May 25 attackers who burnt down 20 Muslim homes in Atali, left two dozen injured and prompted 400 to flee the village.

In a report to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, the panel has alleged the police watched silently - and the station house officer (SHO) even ordered some of the cops to leave the spot - as 2,000 raiders ran wild.

"It was a targeted attack on Muslims, and the local police not only failed to control it but abetted the attackers," commission chairperson Naseem Ahmad told The Telegraph.

"Things would have been different if they had acted with an iron fist. We have highlighted the police's role in our report."

Jat-dominated Atali, about 42km from Delhi, had erupted over the construction of a mosque next to a temple. The violence and local police's inaction prompted the village's about 100 Muslim families to take shelter in the Ballabgarh police station, 8km away.

During the September 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar and its neighbourhood, too, the police's initial inaction had allowed the violence to spread, another commission member said. Eventually, some 50,000 people were displaced and over 60 killed in the riots in the western Uttar Pradesh region, close to Haryana.

A three-member fact-finding team from the commission has visited Atali and spoken to the victims.

"They (the victims) especially named local SHO Babu Lal, who was present at the site and had been warned about impending trouble," says the commission report, which this newspaper has seen.

"According to them, he, in fact, sent away some of the personnel who had been deputed at the site (to keep peace)...."

Lal has been transferred and faces an inquiry.

Atali had witnessed simmering communal tension for over two decades over a plot of land where Muslim residents had begun building a mosque, saying it was wakf land. But the Hindus protested, claiming the land belonged to the village panchayat.

Both groups approached a local court, which stayed the construction in 2008. Last week, the court ruled in favour of the Muslims, angering the Hindus.

A mob armed with country-made pistols, swords and petrol bombs ran wild on May 25, burning houses and shops belonging to Muslims and torching the unfinished mosque.

On June 3, nine days after the attack, about 150 Muslims returned to Atali with their families following an assurance from the district administration. A team from the central paramilitary Rapid Action Force has been posted at the village.

"The remaining 250 Muslims are still living in the makeshift camp at the police station here for fear of fresh violence," said Khurshid Alam, a Ballabgarh resident.

Union home ministry sources said the government of BJP-ruled Haryana had failed to follow the ministry's guidelines, which could have prevented the communal tension spinning out of control.

Last year, the home ministry had sent a manual to all the states on educating their police, especially the lower and middle rungs from constable to inspector, on how to deal with minorities during riot-like situations.

The guidelines asked state governments to identify "communally sensitive and riot-prone districts and to deploy police officials of the highest efficiency, impartiality and secular record".

"In such areas, the prevention of communal tension should be one of the primary duties of the district magistrate and superintendent of police. Their role is key," a home ministry official said.

Under the guidelines, the states should prosecute without delay anyone found inciting or participating in violence.

"Communal disturbances can be nipped in the bud by promptly arresting the perpetrators, but it requires pre-emptive measures and the will to contain riots," a senior IPS officer posted in North Block said.

Another ministry official said that since law and order was a state subject, the Centre could only advise and guide the state governments on riot prevention.

In 2013, the minority commission had sent all the state police chiefs a manual on ridding their subordinates of communal bias. The manual dealt with sensitisation of the police, during their training programmes, on how to deal with minorities during riots.

Former commission chief Wajahat Habibullah, who had prepared the manual, said a democracy needs impartial, effective and humane law-enforcement "to prevent and control conflict and to protect the life, property and honour of innocent citizens".