Journalists duo Tekendra Bishwakarma and Khagendra Sunar were obstructed at Salyan on the way to Jajarkot while heading to report about the Soti massacre on June 4. Salyan lies in Karnali Province.
The Soti Massacre was about the intercaste love relation which was deemed to be the tragic deaths of youths on May 24, 2020. .
Journalists duo Bishwakarma and Sunar are associated with Local Province F.M Network and Deuti HD Television respectively.
As per Freedom Forum's representative for Karnali Province, Laxmi Bhandari, all together 8 journalists were heading towards Jajarkot for reporting about the incident. She further added that other six journalists were not restricted to travel towards Jajorkot, but journalists duo Bishwokarma and Sunar were obstructed on the way.
Journalist Bishwokarma talking to FF's representative Bhandari shared, ''Security officials were prepared to obstruct us prior to our visit as they had already received the photos of us in their mobile phone.'' He further added,'' And after matching the photos of us on their phone, they intentionally prohibited us from going forward for reporting about the incident.''
Sunar lowering his voice told to Bhandari,'' Why Home Minister and Home Administration are sacred of us? We are shocked by this restriction.''
Moreover, Karnali Province DIG Basanta Panta had already told them that there would not be any kind of obstacle to report the incident prior to their travel to Salyan, but later security officials who were under him obstructed them in reporting.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident as it is a sheer violation of press freedom. Journalists Bishwakarma and Sunar are restricted to report the news which is against the right guaranteed by the constitution of Nepal. Harassment to the journalist while reporting who were in mission to ensure citizens' right to information is condemnable. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to take action soon and ensure a safe environment for reporting to the journalists.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np