A local Padam Bhandari issued threat of life and spoke foul words against reporters at Dadeldhura based Radio Amargadhi 97.4 MHz on August 30 . Dadeldhura, a far-western district lies in Province 7 of Nepal.
Talking to Freedom Forum's Media monitoring desk, News chief at Radio Amargadhi Ram Dhami said, "Immediately after news story 'Locals bound to risky travel' was published on www.radioamargadhi.org, Bhandari reached the radio's office, issued death threat and spoke foul on the reporters. He even wrote abusive words on his Facebook status addressing all the journalists in Dadeldhura district". After Bhandari wrote foul words against journalists on his Facebook, many persons followed the suit. Meanwhile, journalists from different media, Ram Dhami, Chhatra Saud, Maan Bahadur Saud, Baburam Shrestha, Barun Paneru, Tek Raj Awasthi, Madan Raj Bhatta, Karam Tamrakar and Pushkar Bhandari jointly filed a case against Bhandari and other locals commenting abusive under the same status under Some Public Offence and Punishment Act at District Police Office Dadeldhura on August 31. Freedom Forum vehemently condemns such behavior of locals against media persons. Had they any problem regarding news content, they could resort to taking appropriate measure as showing concern with the media or move the Press Council Nepal. The threat is therefore a sheer violation of press freedom.
