Yet again, Freedom Forum's attention has been drawn seriously towards an incident occurred in Sunsari, an eastern district in the southern plain of Nepal on 22 April, 2011.
Two unidentified persons pelted stones on news reader of Makalu Television, Pabitra Pande and cameraperson Basu Poudel while they were returning to their office after attending a gathering of the district reporters of the Television, at Itahari. Ms Pande got injury on her leg while cameraperson Poudel, with a severe injury on his head, has been undergoing treatment at Nuro Hospital, Biratnagar, an adjoining city to Itahari.
According to news reader, Pande, they were attacked without any reason. Some unruly group may have attacked us, she added.
Freedom Forum expresses grave concern to the incident. Such incidents indicate that the journalists in Nepal are working in a risky situation due to weak security. If the journalists are attacked and intimidated, they can hardly involve in free and fair journalism. Therefore, the concerned administration should provide ample security to the journalists who are the torchbearer of information in society.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022