Journalist Naxal Kishor Yadav said he was threatened while covering a story about "massive corruption" at the District Education Office in Dhanusha.
(Freedom Forum/IFEX) – On 6 December 2010, Prahlad Bhujel, an accountant for the District Education Office (DEO) – Dhanusha branch, issued a death threat against local journalist Nawal Kishor Yadav, a reporter for the state-owned “Gorkhapatra” and “The Rising Nepal” daily. Dhanusha is a southern plain district of Nepal.
According to journalist Yadav, he was threatened while covering the news of ‘massive corruption’ at the DEO Dhanusha office.
“I called accountant Bhujel two weeks ago to obtain his version of events regarding the rumor of corruption rife in the DEO office. I started receiving threatening calls once I talked to him,” journalist Yadav told the Press Freedom Monitoring Desk of Freedom Forum.
Yadav has already reported the incident to the DEO office along with the District Administration Office (DAO), asking for Bhujel to be punished.
“I want the guilty to be punished as per legal arrangement,” said journalist Yadav. “A bid to stop my writing by threat is impossible as I firmly adhere to the journalist’s right to reporting.”
Freedom Forum strongly condemns the incident and asks the government to bring the guilty to book as soon as possible. “It is very unfortunate to learn of a threat against a journalist by a civil servant,” said Freedom Forum’s Chairperson Taranath Dahal. “We urge the government to investigate the incident.”
