Journalist Krishna Thapa has gone missing from his hometown Nuwakot for two weeks. Nuwakot lies in Bagmati Province of Nepal. Thapa was district-based reporter to Kantipur National daily for five years. After leaving Kantipur a year ago, he started working on an online news portal, according to Shiva Devkota, editor at local Uttargaya daily. Edotir Devkota shared with Freedom Forum that journalist Thapa has been missing since July 14. It is said that Thapa left for Kathmandu along with his belongings on July 14. Thereafter, he is out of contact. According to Devkota, Thapa's family members said that Thapa was seen online on Facebook even after July 14 but he did not respond to anyone's message or calls. On July 27, Thapa's brother lodged a complaint at local police station requesting to search for his brother. Since that day, he is not even seen online. Journalist Devkota further informed that reason for his disappearance is yet unknown. He reported that journalist Thapa has contacted his family recently but detailed information is yet to come. Journalist Devekota informed FF that Thapa came in contact with his family members on the second week of October.
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.
