Kathmandu, September 18
A group of police personnel barred two on-duty journalists from interviewing a common man on the streets of Naya Baneshwar of Kathmandu, on Friday afternoon.
They also tried to arrest Onlinekhabar correspondent Royal Acharya and photojournalist Chandra Bahadur Ale after misbehaving with them.
Acharya and Ale say they were collecting common people’s opinions about the country’s constitution to publish on the occasion of Constitution Day on Saturday.
The law enforcers also chased away Basanta Paudyal, who was talking to them, by beating him up with their lathis, in a blatant violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, issuing a press release, the umbrella organisation of Nepali journalists, Federation of Nepali Journalists, has protested the police move. Saying the act was interference to press freedom, the federation has demanded action against the personnel involved after an investigation.
DIG Bishwaraj Pokharel, Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office Chief, and SSP Shyam Gyawali, Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range Chief, have assured an investigation into the incident.
