Freedom Forum condemns the arrest of journalists from different media during their peaceful protest on June 12 in Dhanusha district. The district lies in Province 2 of Nepal.
According to FF's representative for Province 2, Rajan Singh, Police arrested nine journalists while staging protest in District Post Office, Dhanusha demanding the refund of the amount deducted from Public Welfare Advertisement. Among the nine arrested one is a female journalist working at local daily.
Journalists arrested were R N Biswas (Kantipur TV), Shyam Sundar Yadav (Nepal TV), Baidhyanath Yadav (Avenues TV), Nabin Kumar Gupta (ABC TV), Bhusan Kumar Singh (Radio CPM) and Bindu Yadav (Local Purwa Prabhat Daily), Dharmapal Raut (Rajbiraj Today), Gopal Gupta (Biruwa weekly) and Paris Karna (Green Madhesh daily).
Later, they were released after an hour of detention.
The incident is a sheer violation of freedom of expression. The constitution has guaranteed citizen's right to peaceful assembly, protest and freedom of expression. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to be aware of the fundamental rights of the citizen and act for the protection of it rather than violation of their rights. (News For TV journalist)
For More Information
Freedom Forum
Thapathali, Kathmandu
01-4102030/ 4102022
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np