A reporter with the local Bheri FM, Tirtha Jaishee, was beaten up and robbed by an unknown gang while he was on his way to the station's office.
(Freedom Forum/IFEX) – Freedom Forum’s attention has been drawn towards an incident that occurred in Nepalgunj, a city in the Midwest of Nepal on January 3, 2012.
A reporter with the local Bheri FM, Tirtha Jaishee, was beaten up and robbed by an unknown gang while he was on his way to the station’s office.
Talking to Freedom Forum’s media monitoring desk, Jaishee said, “When I was coming to the FM in the early morning from the Kailali district, a gang all of a sudden insulted me, attacked me, and robbed me of my bag containing a pen, a tape recorder, a pen drive and a diary. I got a minor injury to my ear too.”
It is quite condemnable that journalists in Nepal are being the target of attacks from various sectors, including unknown gangs. It clearly depicts how fragile the security situation is. Such incidents are responsible for creating psychological fear resulting in self-censorship among journalists, and that self-censorship is key to limiting the scope of freedom of expression.
Freedom Forum therefore urges the concerned authorities to identify the assailants and bring them to book.
