Barsha Shah, a photojournalist with Deshsanchar.com, was briefly detained while covering a protest at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar on December 16. The incident occurred in Kathmandu, the federal capital of Bagmati Province, Nepal.
Reporter Shah told Freedom Forum that she was taking photos and videos of a silent protest at the gate of the PM's residence when two female police officers approached her and asked her to delete all her recordings. After she refused, Shah was detained for around two and a half hours for taking photos without their permission.
Reflecting on the incident, Shah said she felt like laughing, as the incident occurred just a few hours after she had returned from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), where she had discussed attacks on journalists including herself during the Gen Z protest. “Just few minutes earlier, we were discussing human rights at the Commission, and now my own human rights have been violated,” she said. “Although my recordings are safe, my hands are hurting because they thrashed me,” she added.
Freedom Forum is concerned over the incident. A journalist has every right to report in the public premises. Such act of harrassing a journalist for reporting is a gross violation of press freedom. The concerned authority is strongly urged to be aware of journalists right to free reporting.
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