A reporter with Butwal Today national daily, Ram Avatar Chaudhary received death threat while reporting in Butwal on January 28. Butwal lies in Lumbini Province of Nepal.
Reporter Chaudhary shared with Freedom Forum that he had reached a local brick kiln to report on varying prices of bricks and child labour on the day of the incident.
"After I saw many children working at the kiln, I tried to talk to the owner about it. The owner not only refused to answer my questions but also threatened to kill me in the kiln", added Chaudhary.
Thereafter, the reporter informed the local police about the incident and returned back.
"On the next day, the owner was called at the police station where he apologized to us but we have demanded a written apology from him for security reasons", said Chaudhary.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident as it is a sheer violation of journalists' right to free reporting. Moreover, child labour is one of the serious issues in Nepal and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 2000, prohibits the employment of children younger than 16 years of age into hazardous work.
Though the kiln owner apologized after the incident, such incidents may create panic among fellow journalists and affect citizens' right to access to information.
Hence, FF urges the concerned to be aware of journalists' rights and cooperate with them to contribute to social change.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np