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New Delhi: Amid intense protests over UGC’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday assured demonstrators that there will be no discrimination and misuse of the law.

“I assure everyone there will be no discrimination and no one can misuse the law,” Pradhan told news agency ANI.

The new UGC regulation is threatening to become a fresh social and political flashpoint. Students, particularly upper caste, are protesting against it. They claim this law to be discriminatory and biased.

#WATCH | On new regulation of UGC, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says,” I assure everyone there will be no discrimination and no one can misuse the law.” pic.twitter.com/0ZRgWaU76H

— ANI (@ANI)

While the regulation aim to strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms and ensure equity on campuses, protesters argue that the framework does not sufficiently address the possibility of false complaints and their potential impact on innocent students.

Their other contention is that while the regulations emphasise speed, perception and compliance, it lacks adequate safeguards, clarity and due process.

The biggest grievance is the absence of stringent provisions against frivolous or malicious complaints, which they say would lead to potential misuse. According to them, this will make it easier to target individuals from the general category without sufficient evidence. The UGC, however, maintains that the regulations include mechanisms to address false complaints.

On Monday, Bareilly City Magistrate Alankar Agnihotri resigned from service allegedly over new UGC regulations, which he said could foment caste-based discontent. He termed the UGC rules as a “black law”.