Freedom Forum has been alarmed over the incident that a youth was grilled by the police over his Facebook post on Home Minister, which allegedly caused him to attempt suicide at police gate before entering for another round of enquiry.
A news story on it was run by the Nagarik national daily in the front page on April 25.Ganesh Man Singh Thakuri, a resident of Jajarkot district of Sudurpaschim Province was arrested and brought to Cyber Bureau of Police office, Kathmandu for an inquiry upon his social media post.
According to the Nagarik national daily, Thakuri had posted a comment on a Facebook post critical to Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane. During the police inquiry at cyber bureau, officers asked him to show the proof of what he had written on the Facebook posts' comment and threatened to send him to jail as per order of Home Minister.
Thereafter, Thakuri could not resist the harassment and consumed poison at the police gate .
Police rushed him to the hospital and he is undergoing treatment.
The Nagarik daily quoted Thakuri's brother as saying- it was the second time police called him to office and his brother was severely threatened, prodding him to take poison.
A video clip of Thakuri speaking about the incident from the hospital's ICU bed has gone viral in the social media as well.
On the other hand, on April 25 itself, Nepal Police's cyber bureau issued a press statement mentioning, "The video was fake and Thakuri was brought to the office to inquire about obscene posts on a social media post managed by Thakuri."
FF condemns the incident and demands fair investigation on it. Arresting citizens for expression of views is deplorable and its unconstitutional. FF is reaching out to both sides to investigate further in it.
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