An anti-press incident- police raid in an FM station- has come to Freedom Forum's attention. The incident occurred on the evening of 16 June 2011 in Itahari, the city in the eastern part of the southern plain of Nepal.
The police conducted the raid in the Saptakoshi FM on the information that Parshuram Basnet, prime accused of the attack on Biratnagar-based journalist Khilanath Dhakal was being interviewed in the FM.
The police forcefully entered the newsroom and inquired the staffs what news they made, wrote the Annapurna national daily, quoting Station Manager Chandra Neupane.
Similarly, News Chief Lila Raj Bhattarai said the police in plainclothes entered the office without permission and panicked the staffs, interfering on the news in the name of protecting journalists.
Freedom Forum expresses grave concern to the incident as the police raid was almost against the media freedom and against journalists' rights. As it is a kind of censorship, the concerned authority should not repeat such acts. Although the police tried to capture the leader of attackers on journalist Dhakal, their way of interfering with news in the FM was illogical and against freedom of expression.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022