Freedom Forum has been alarmed to know that a reporter has gone missing since the election day- May 14- after he cast his vote from Kavrepalanchowk district.
Reporter with the Yuva Hunkar magazine, Harichandra Shrestha, has been missing since the day of local level election- May 14- from Kanpur of Kavrepalanchowk district. Yuwa Hunkar is a monthly magazine published from Kathmandu. Kavre lies on Province 3 of Nepal.
In a telephonic conversation with Freedom Forum, editor with the Yuwa Hunkar, Bhuvan KC, said, “Shrestha had gone to his district to vote in the local election. On the election day, his wife, Sharmila Shrestha, contacted him to know whether he had voted. In the first call, he informed that he was still waiting for his turn, while he later informed at around 4:00 pm that he left the voting centre to return to his residence in Bhaktapur. But, since then he went out of contact."
KC added, “It has been five days there is no whereabouts of Shrestha. Although the complaint has been lodged at Police Office, the investigation has not started yet”.
Moreover, editor KC shared that reporter Shrestha did not belong to any political party, neither had he written news against any political party.
Freedom Forum strongly urges the local authorities and security agencies to be serious about the disappearance and expedite the investigate into it.
Although the preliminary information does not show any link between his disappearance and the journalism he did, the security agencies and the stakeholders must not leave any stone unturned for his search.
For More Information
Freedom Forum
Thapathali, Kathmandu
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np; info@freedomforum.org.np
www.nepalpressfreedom.org
www.freedomforum.org.np