Reporters Hikmat Bam and Deepak Rawal were misbehaved while reporting in Darchula district on January 30. Darchula district lies in Sudur Paschim Province of Nepal.
Reporter Rawal is associated with http://onthespotnews.org/ (an online news portal) while reporter Bam is affiliated to Yug Astra daily.
Talking to Freedom Forum, reporter Rawal shared that they were recording voice of Nepali people at the Nepal-India border area following the government's order to ease restriction on cross border movement. Meanwhile, the Indian SSB officers seized their camera and said that they were not allowed to click pictures or take videos without their permission.
He wondered, "We were on Nepali land and recording video of Nepali people crossing the border. I could not understand why we should take their permission!"
The officers returned their camera half an hour after deleting the recorded video. Even the Nepali security officers did not help us, Rawal said.
Freedom Forum condemns the misbehavior meted out against the journalists. It is gross violation of press freedom. Security officials are the responsible authorities to ensure safety and security of the people at the border. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to help create free and fair atmosphere for reporting at the site.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np