Nepal Police arrested a youth for creating a troll of President and Prime Minister and sharing it on a social media website on July 22. The incident took place in Jhapa, Province 1.
According to the information received at Freedom Forum, Som Prasad Ghimire was arrested for making troll with distorted images of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Ghimire had shared the troll on his own social media page (TikTok).
According to the police, Ghimire has been charged under the Electronic Transaction Act (2008) and the Kathmandu District Court has issued order to detain Ghimire for seven days for investigation.
This is a sheer violation of constitution guaranteed right to freedom of expression. Public figures should be receptive to the public criticism and arresting a citizen merely for sharing a post on the social media depicts authoritarian move of the ruling government, observes executive chief of Freedom Forum Taranath Dahal.
Freedom Forum condemns the arrest of citizen and strongly demands for his immediate release. The government authority has been misusing ETA time and again to suppress the civic space.
For more information
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np