(FNJ/IFEX) – Sanjaya Santoshi Rai, vice president of FNJ and member of the Press Council of Nepal, was insulted and threatened with assault by a soldier of the Nepalese Army on 25 October 2006, in Dhankuta, in the eastern district of Nepal. Rai, who is also a correspondent for Nepal Television, was collecting news and […]
(FNJ/IFEX) – Sanjaya Santoshi Rai, vice president of FNJ and member of the Press Council of Nepal, was insulted and threatened with assault by a soldier of the Nepalese Army on 25 October 2006, in Dhankuta, in the eastern district of Nepal.
Rai, who is also a correspondent for Nepal Television, was collecting news and videotaping a Hurra, a local dance, organized on the occasion of Tihar, a Hindu festival. During the event, the soldier Dilli Bhandari, who was under the influence of alcohol, took offence at Rai’s filming the event and sought to interfere, by attempting to strike the journalist and seizing his camera.
FNJ considers this act a violation of freedom of expression, and, in a press release, severely condemned the incident and demanded that strict action be taken against the perpetrator.