Kamala Panday, station manager at Radio Namaste aired from Butwal and reporter at Radio Nepal (a state-owned media) was arrested while reporting a public protest from Butwal on October 4. Butwal lies in Province 5 of Nepal.
Talking to Freedom Forum, journalist Pandey shared that she was arrested while reporting on vandalism.
Police arrested Pandey along with the locals even after she revealed her identity as a journalist. She was released today (October 5) after pressure from the fellow journalists and media organizations.
Freedom Forum condemns the arrest as it violated journalists' right to reporting without any obstruction. Journalists reporting protests and demonstration have been facing intimidation as the police persons do not segregate the mob and on-duty journalists while taming the situation. Hence, FF strongly urges the security authority to respect journalist and their right to free press.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np