The Kathmandu Metropolitan Police arrested comedian Apoorva Kshitij Singh on August 28, 2022 for his standup comedy. He was arrested for allegedly hurting the sentiment of the Newar community. Comedian Singh had presented a standup comedy at Comedy Café, the video of which he uploaded on August 26th, 2022. Following this people wrote abusive comments on the post and few also filed First Information Report at the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku. In response, Singh removed the video from YouTube and publicly apologized for this comedy video. The Spokesperson of Metropolitan Police Circle, Dinesh Raj Mainali, informed Freedom Forum that investigation was underway. Singh is charged under offence of “not to disrupt social rites and rituals” under section 165 of the Muluki Criminal Code, 2017. Mainali further said Singh was presented in the Kathmandu District Administration Office on August 28th, 2022. The administration issued an order to keep him in custody for 10 days for investigation. Freedom Forum takes into notice the incident. As Singh has already apologized publicly and removed the video, there is no reason behind keeping him in custody for further investigation. Together, Freedom Forum urges the artists to be aware and sensitive towards social and communal harmony while exercising their artistic freedoms. For more information, Freedom Forum monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
