The incident of Maya Kathayat, 38, of Gurbhakot Municipality-12, Surkhet, jumping into the Bheri River after a dispute with her husband suddenly heated up social media. As soon as I saw the news, one thing came to my mind – ‘We need to reach the scene of the incident and understand the reality.’ Maya’s news immediately reminded me of the painful incident of Suki Baduwala, who jumped into the river with her four children in Karnali. Two voices were playing in my mind – on the one hand, ‘Don’t let this incident happen again’ and on the other hand, ‘If this incident is also like Suki’s, how can I go into reporting?’ Meanwhile, the rape and murder case of 16-year-old Inisha Bik in Birendranagar had increased the pressure of daily protests and news updates. In the daily meeting held at the

office, ‘What is the latest update on Inisha, has there been any additional reports?’ Various rumors had spread on social media due to Maya’s incident. Some said it was suicide, some said it was murder, some said her husband killed her and threw her into the river, but instead of finding the truth, there was a competition to increase YouTube 'views'. They were creating a sensation on social media by making small video clips about the incident. Most of the comments under the videos were only abusing women.

Recently, cameras have reached not only cities, but also villages for news updates. In this way, the use of big media names and hiding one's identity has also increased. Two incidents that occurred in the last two weeks raised a question in my mind - where is the information we provide taking society?

Maya Kathayat, who left home on Friday, was confirmed to have jumped into the Bheri River on Sunday after her bag and mobile phone were found in the Bheri River. The videos, which were made far from the reality of the incident and mixed with their own assumptions and excitement, made me very uncomfortable. What kind of form such materials give to the incident and what impact they have on the victim's family - these questions shook my heart from the inside. Then I decided to go to the scene myself.

On Monday evening, Prakash KC, the chief of the Area Police Office, Chhinchu, gave the news that 'Maya's body was found on the banks of the Bheri'. I prepared and sent the news. Then I planned to go to Bheri myself. On Tuesday morning, my friend Deepak Jung Shahi from Nepal News said, 'Madam, shall we go to the scene ourselves?' Since he had reached the same place and reported on the Suki Baduwal incident, I felt like going to the scene.

I agreed to go to Bheri with Shahi. At that time, I remembered that I was going to meet Dr. Nawaraj KC the previous day. In the morning, a reminder message came on his WhatsApp and I requested to have coffee and he said yes. Dr. KC, Shahi and I were having coffee. At that time, Yagya Khatri of Online News and Nagendra Upadhyay, a civil servant, also arrived. The main reason for meeting the doctor was to discuss how to hold the second daughter's conference, but after Maya's incident caught everyone's attention, our conversation turned to that.

Finally, the four of us decided to go to the scene. After hiring a car from Hari Daju, the four of us headed towards Bheri. I drove the car myself. Along the way, we talked about the incident of Suki, Inisha and the five people who were said to be missing in the park, and planned how to provide updates.

Perhaps two hours later, we reached the Mehelkuna police post. After Prakash KC, the chief of the Area Police Office, Chhinchu, who was waiting for us at the post, gave us a brief explanation of the incident, it was decided that we should go to Bheri for more information. From there, we crossed the river in a rafting boat with the help of the Armed Police Force. While crossing the river, two scenes were seen simultaneously - on one side, preparations were being made to cremate the 103-year-old mother, and on the other, a crowd of relatives and security personnel were searching for Maya's body. That day, the Bheri River was silent. The relatives were sitting on the river bank, watching the water flowing in the river, singing Holi, and talking.

As soon as we reached their place, my eyes fell on the people who were holding big cameras and microphones and asking the victim's family tough questions. The victim and the perpetrator's family did not seem to want to open up about the incident. 'Why are you trying to hide the incident? If not, talk about the incident?' If the perpetrator's family had questions, they were asking the victim's family that your daughter left home and committed suicide, that's the rumor in the market, what is it?' This scene made me feel uncomfortable.

The four of us also tried to talk to Maya's husband Bhupendra with the help of the police and he agreed. Bhupendra was telling us what happened from his house to Maya's uncle's house on Friday and Saturday, when his relatives came and said, 'We don't want to talk to journalists like this,' and we walked away. The incident is one thing, they started abusing us for posting a video on social media. We said, 'We work for a newspaper. We came from Birendranagar to understand the truth of the incident that happened today.' But they were not ready to accept it. A young woman from the crowd said, 'The questions asked by the journalists have caused more pain, we have lost our people. They ask questions as if we had killed them. What kind of journalists are they!'

That sentence shocked me even more. Hearing the perpetrators' cries, the team of boys who were standing nearby with cameras and making videos ran away, claiming to work for big media. It was only after they left that we found out that they had taken the interview using the names of big media. After not being able to talk to Bhupendra properly, we spoke to Maya's brother Premraj Giri on the phone and went to meet him across the Bheri.

We met Prem, who was sitting behind the police post, looking at the Bheri River. We introduced ourselves by asking the names of Kantipur, Nagarik, Nepal News and other media outlets and asked about the incident. He opened up about everything with tears in his eyes. It had been a long time since I had spoken to my sister. He gave me the contact number to meet my uncle Amardev Giri about the incident. He asked my uncle on the phone to tell me about the incident properly.

We went to his uncle's house with an update on Maya's incident. My uncle initially told me the way home, but when we got close to the house, he hung up the phone saying, 'I can't talk.' We called again. Nagendra Daju took the help of a policeman there and we reached my uncle Amarraj Giri's house. Amar asked which journalists are you? I said, 'I work for Kantipur...' At that, Amar said that he had already given a 'video interview with Kantipur this morning'. 'How many times will you give it to the same newspaper?' The incident has not been properly investigated. We don't know what the incident was, things that didn't happen have been put on video, justice is served even in this way...' He got very angry with us. We must have seen him for the first time, and he must have seen us for the first time. But others have already made audio/video recordings of the incident in our name. Amarraj said in a tired voice, ‘Since morning, 12-15 people came with cameras, asking whatever they could. I don’t know what the incident was, but they asked the wrong questions in the video. Now they have posted the wrong video on social media.’

On one hand, there is the pain of losing a daughter, on the other hand, the videos and news on social media are causing the victim equal pain. The voice was more tired and distrustful of us than the pain. As soon as I saw my uncle, I thought, ‘Haven’t we made people even more scared in the name of providing information?’ When we returned from the incident, we not only brought news, we also brought a question – how scared is society in the name of journalism? Pointing the camera, they said, ‘Speak about the incident – ​​it will be covered in big media in Surkhet and Kathmandu.’ How much impact does making a video without understanding the essence of the incident have on society? It is clear . Not only from the incident of Maya, but also from the incident of 16-year-old Inisha Bik, who was raped and murdered in the forest of Surkhet on 23 Falgun, where her family boycotted the entire media, saying that the YouTuber had made inappropriate questions about her daughter's character. 

As soon as the daughter's incident came to light, Inisha's family objected to her father, who returned to Nepal, for making a video by raising unnecessary questions about her daughter's character. The daughter's incident is under investigation, her father Indra said, 'YouTuber asked questions about her deceased daughter that he could not hear.' The video comes out so that it can be viewed on social media, is this even justice? Don't journalists have any standards? We don't want to come to the media until the incident is investigated.' 

Not only the incident of Maya Kathayat, but also the family of 16-year-old Inisha Bik, who was raped and murdered in the forests of Surkhet on 23 Falgun, is angry over the content on social media and YouTube. Inisha's family had expressed dissatisfaction with the entire media, saying that the incident was distorted and unnecessary and insensitive questions were raised about the character of the deceased girl. Inisha's father, who returned to Nepal from abroad as soon as he learned about his daughter's incident, had objected to the video made by some YouTubers.