Kathmandu, April 10
Police brutally attacked Kabin Adhikari, photojournalist, Onlinekhabar, while he was covering a protest of government employees opposed to preparations for their trade union election, at Singhadurbar, Kathmandu, on Sunday.
While Adhikari was covering the protest, police deployed on the protest site detained four agitating employees and bundled them into the van.
Then someone hurled a flower pot at the police van that smashed the windscreen, while Adhikari was covering the police act. Then a police officer took him by the neck and reprimanded him for not covering the flower pot-hurling scene. “Thenafter, they rained kicks and lathis on me,” said Adhikari.
Distressingly, there was no one around to stop these personnel and offer him help.
Adhikari then contacted the Onlinekhabar office. Help arrived and he was rushed to HAMS Hospital in Buddhanagar for treatment.
Even after knowing about the brutal attack, DSP Prajit KC, who was in charge of the police personnel indeployed on the protest site, did nothing. KC only said he had come to know about the beating of a journalist, but he did not show interest in taking him to the hospital. “Do whatever you can do,” was his standard answer.
