Abhay Nayak shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’, bomb threat on EasyJet flight sparks emergency landing
Glasgow: A 41-year-old man identified as Abhay Nayak has been arrested after allegedly causing a bomb scare aboard an EasyJet flight from London Luton to Glasgow on Sunday morning. The mid-air disruption forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Glasgow Airport.
Eyewitnesses report that Nayak emerged from the plane's lavatory shouting “Allahu Akbar” and claiming to possess a bomb. He also reportedly shouted political slogans, including “Death to America” and “Death to Trump,” referencing the former U.S. President, who was in Scotland at the time. Nayak further claimed he was trying to “send a message” to Trump.
Passengers and crew acted swiftly, restraining Nayak in the aisle as flight attendants checked his belongings. No explosives were found on board. A viral video of the incident shows passengers holding him down while cabin crew moved his bags to a secure area.
According to reports cited by the New York Post, Nayak carried documents identifying him as an Indian national with refugee status in the UK. The flight crew declared an emergency, and the plane was diverted to a remote area upon landing at Glasgow Airport at around 8:20 a.m., where armed police took him into custody.
Nayak appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court on Monday but did not enter a plea. He has been charged with assault and endangering the safety of an aircraft under the UK's Air Navigation Order. While counter-terrorism officers initially reviewed the incident, authorities have confirmed that he is not facing terrorism-related charges.
He remains in custody and is scheduled to reappear in court next week. Further details about his background or motivations have not yet been released by the authorities.
🚨 EasyJet Mid-Flight Bomb Threat
— زماں (@Delhiite_) July 29, 2025
Abhay Nayak, 41, from Luton, shouted "Allahu Akbar," "Death to America," & "Death to Trump" mid-air, causing a bomb scare. He is not a Muslim. UK authorities have charged him with endangering safety. pic.twitter.com/w1llKa0W0v
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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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