Mayor of Manahari Rural Municipality, Makwanpur, Ranjan Kalakheti, took dozens of journalists under control on September 16 in Hetauda.
Accroding to the victim journalists, Mayor Rupakheti had called journalists in the district for a press conference to refute the news published in the media about the embezzlement of collected revenue by the municipality.
"Soon after we entered the venue, they closed the gate and a group of youths appeared who abuses us verbally. They also did not let us go out of the venue for some hours", shared one of the victim journalists, Devraj Panta.
The news came to light very late.
He further shared that they called police and were able to get out with the help of police escorting.
It is quite depressing and deplorable that journalists were taken under control for some hours in the name of news conference by the Mayor. It is egregious violation of press freedom. FF strongly urges the Mayor to take legal recourse rather than controlling journalists over the news content. He can reach right body, Press Council Nepal for the complaints on the news content.
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Freedom Forum
Thapathali, Kathmandu