Seven injured as cow vigilantes assault cattle transporters in Maharashtra’s Jalna
Jalna: In a shocking case of cow vigilantism, seven men, including a 62-year-old, were injured after being assaulted by a mob in Jalna district of Maharashtra late Monday night. The victims, who were transporting cattle purchased from a weekly market, were attacked by a group of unidentified assailants accusing them of taking the animals for slaughter.
According to police sources, the complainant, a 62-year-old man, said his employer, trader Padam Rajput of Borgaon Wadi in Sillod tehsil, had bought 21 bulls from the Wadod Bazaar in Phulambri tehsil. The cattle were being transported in two vehicles, MH-20 EL 7887 and KA 51 DA 4363, to Nalegaon in Latur district’s Chakur tehsil.
When the vehicles reached Londewadi village in Jalna tehsil, the attackers allegedly intercepted them and began beating the transporters with sticks and logs. Despite the victims’ claim that the cattle were for agricultural purposes and that they possessed valid purchase documents, the assault continued.
Police later arrived at the scene, rescued the injured men, and seized the cattle, which were sent to a cow shelter in Ramnagar. However, the complainant alleged that the same group followed them to the shelter and continued the assault even in the presence of police officers.
Social worker Reema Kale-Kharat, who later intervened, accused the police of initially detaining the victims and filing a case against them under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act instead of acting against the attackers. Following her intervention, the police registered an FIR against 10 to 20 unidentified persons for the assault.
The injured were identified as Nisar Patel, Asif Shaikh, Riyaz Qureshi, Sajid Pasha, Asif Sadiq, Javed Qureshi, and Sayyed Parvez, all of whom sustained head and body injuries.
Complainant Nisar Patel alleged that the assailants arrived in a Scorpio vehicle and continued attacking them even at the cow shelter. “How can the police register a case against unidentified persons when we clearly saw who attacked us?” Patel asked, further claiming that the police detained them for nearly 12 hours before taking their complaint.
Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Anant Kulkarni denied that the assault occurred in the presence of police officers. “There was some dispute between the two parties, and we are investigating the matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Maharashtra Muslims (FMM) Jalna unit condemned the incident and demanded immediate action against the attackers. FMM convenor Safir Ahmed recalled that in August 2025, the Maharashtra Police, following directions from Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had issued a circular stating that only police are authorized to act against illegal transportation of animals.
The circular explicitly prohibits private individuals or cow vigilante groups from stopping or checking vehicles transporting cattle. Despite this directive, Safir alleged, such vigilante attacks continue unabated in several parts of the state.
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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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