Freedom Forum Nepal shows grave concern against the continued incidents of press freedom violation in the country.
Lately, Freedom Forum has received another incident of press freedom violation which occurred in Sunsari, a district in the eastern part of the
southern belt of Nepal on March 27, 2011.
Journalist Subodh Yadav from Morang, a neighbouring district of Sunsari, who is associated with a local online news portal- www.nmkhabar.com- was
beaten up by the Indian Border Security Force (SSB) while taking a photograph near Phalkaha entry point to make news about the criminal
activities happening in the Nepal-India border area. The SSB personnel took journalist Yadav under control for three hours, beat him up and deleted all
photos he had taken. The SSB personnel accused scribe Yadav of being a spy of Nepal Army.
Journalist Yadav said he was beaten up and given mental torture by the SSB personnel without any reason as he had been there just for making news on
criminal activities in border area.
It is a sheer violation of freedom of press/expression. It clearly indicates that the journalists in Nepal are not only under the threats within the country but also from the security forces of the neighbouring country, India.
Freedom Forum condemns the treatment meted out against journalist Yadav by the SSB personnel. The Freedom Forum also urges the concerned local
administrations of Nepal and of India to ensure free and fair atmosphere to the border area journalists to carry out their works thereby to respect
freedom of expression/press through the bilateral/diplomatic channels.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022