An incident of press freedom violation has concerned Freedom Forum.
Chief Editor of the New Highway weekly, Sashi Bichitra in Parsa, a district in the central region of Nepal's southern plain, was issued death threat by an unknown person by telephone on March 22, 2012.
According to Chief Editor Bichitra, the phone call was made twice by a person claiming himself Chaurasiya. The person told journalist Bichitra that he would be killed within 27 March as he had spoken foul word on Chaurasiya three months ago while drinking.
But journalist Bichitra said the charge on him was false, but the threats may be the repercussion of the news he made about the organized smuggling in the neighbouring Sarlahi district.
Chaurasiya made the call by the phone number 9844093100.
Meanwhile, the police administration has been informed about the threats demanding security to journalist Bichitra.
The police in the district said as the user of the phone was tracked, he would be caught soon.
The incident shows how the journalists have been made the butt of threats and attack because of the news they write about crimes in Nepal.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident and demand ample security to the journalist who is panicking with threats. Also, the security must mete out punishment to the culprit to avoid fear among journalists.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022