I saw one policeman shooting directly at Papa, says son of latest casualty of Haldwani violence
Haldwani: In the aftermath of the recent violence in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, the death toll has risen to six, with the latest victim being a Muslim man named Mohammad Israr. Israr, a 54-year-old resident of Ghafoor Basti, Ward number 24, Kidwai Nagar, succumbed to bullet injuries on Tuesday. He was shot in the head on February 8 while searching for his two sons amid the prevailing violence in the Banbhoolpura area.
Israr's sons, Suhail and Aman, had already returned home by the time he reached the spot. However, upon learning that Israr had gone out to find them, Aman went to locate his father. Aman recounted the tragic incident, stating, "I saw one policeman shooting directly at Papa; the bullet hit him at one side and came out from the other side, piercing his head. And he laid down on the street motionless."
The younger son, Aman, called his elder brother, and together, they rushed Israr to Krishna Hospital. He was later transferred to Sushila Tiwari Hospital, where he received treatment for six days until doctors declared him dead on Tuesday.
Despite the grief and shock, the family faced further challenges. Suhail, the elder son, shared that the police did not permit them to take Israr's body home for the last rites. The family was only able to see him outside the hospital before taking the body for burial. Police accompanied them to the graveyard, allowing only five family members to go with the body.
The family expressed reluctance to file a police complaint, asserting that all police actions witnessed thus far have been against them. Suhail stated, "We do not want to make any complaint; our papa is gone now. Those who killed him won’t bring justice to us or our family."
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, announced plans to construct a police station at the site of the demolished Madrasa and Masjid, despite a court order. Addressing a crowd in Haridwar, Dhami stated, "This is our government’s clear message to troublemakers and rioters: anyone who disrupts the peace of the land of the gods will not be spared. There is no place for such perpetrators in Uttarakhand."
The violence in Banbhoolpura, Haldwani, unfolded more than six days ago, resulting in at least six deaths. The victims include five Muslims and one non-Muslim, identified as Prakash, a 24-year-old agricultural studies graduate from Bihar. The police have arrested 90 individuals, including five Muslims, on charges related to the violence. However, the alleged "mastermind," Abdul Malik, remains at large.
Abdul Malik and his wife Safia Malik owned the now-demolished religious structure in Haldwani, which became a focal point of the unrest. The violence prompted the imposition of a curfew, which was lifted briefly before being reinstated on Monday. Entry and exit points were sealed, raising concerns about the flow of accurate information and the role of journalists.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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