(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 4 November 2004, a group of Nepal Police officers, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaya Ram Nepal, assaulted journalist Surya Bahadur Chanda. The incident occurred in front of the offices of the Nepal Electricity Authority, in Kanchanpur district, western Nepal, while the journalist was gathering information in the area. Chanda, a district correspondent […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 4 November 2004, a group of Nepal Police officers, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaya Ram Nepal, assaulted journalist Surya Bahadur Chanda. The incident occurred in front of the offices of the Nepal Electricity Authority, in Kanchanpur district, western Nepal, while the journalist was gathering information in the area. Chanda, a district correspondent for the state-owned daily “Gorakhapatra”, was manhandled despite presenting his press identification.
In a separate incident, on 7 November, the owner of the J.K. Tire Company, Jaya Bhola Shrestha, assaulted journalist Prakash Pokhrel in Butwal, Rupandehi district, western Nepal. Pokhrel, the local representative of the radio programme “Samachakra”, which is broadcast on the state-owned station Radio Nepal, was assaulted while he was producing the radio programme.
CEHURDES condemns these attacks on journalists. The organisation urges all parties to cease all attacks against journalists and calls for the creation of an environment that is conducive to independent news reporting.
