Court order to remove the news while hearing the application of 'prohibition' filed by the Chairman of the Securities Board, Santosh Narayan Shrestha.
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Organizations including the Federation of Nepalese Journalists have protested the order issued by the District Court of Kathmandu to remove news from two online sites, saying that it violates the preamble of the Constitution of Nepal and the right to communication under the fundamental rights. Judge Pitambar Sharma's bench, while hearing the plea of 'injunction' filed by Securities Board Chairman Santosh Narayan Shrestha against Nepalkhabar.com and Bizmandu.com, ordered the removal of the news. has given
The court has issued an interim order in the name of Bizmandu and Nepalkhabar to 'immediately remove' the news published about Shrestha and not to write news about Shrestha in the future.
'by publishing news under different titles and damaging the reputation of the petitioner, publishing the news in a disrespectful manner, from the point of view of the irreparable damage that may be caused to the petitioner from the news published on different dates and the balance of convenience, the opponents should be ordered not to publish unverified, unsubstantiated news on the website, online or through other means, and to order the opponents to immediately remove the published news from online, in the name of the opponents According to 34 (1), a short-term interim order has been issued," said the court's order.
Ignoring the jurisdiction of the Press Council, the order from the court is against the international values related to freedom of the press and the provisions and spirit of the Constitution. The Constitution has guaranteed complete freedom of the press in its preamble. This constitutional system of freedom of the press cannot be limited by the order of any body: Nepal Journalist Federation
The court has set a date on June 4 for the discussion of the opposition as well on whether the short-term interim order should be continued or not. It is mentioned in the order that both parties were called to discuss the interim order on that day. Advocates Ramchandra Poudel, Kiran Poudel, Rashtravimochan Timilsena, Ashankan Bahadur Malla, Pritam Ghimire and Ashok Adhikari argued in the bench of District Court Judge Sharma that the order should be issued according to the injunction filed by Securities Board Chairman Shrestha.
Federation of Journalists' umbrella organization has drawn serious attention to the short-term interim order issued by Nepalkhabar dotcom and Bizmandu dotcom online and said that the order violates the freedom of the press rights granted by the constitution.
The court's order states that 'full freedom of the press' has been ensured in the preamble of the constitution and Article 19 of the constitution states that there will be no prior restrictions on news publication and broadcasting and that there will be no obstruction to the media. Similarly, the federation has also stated that there is provision not to remove (delete) published news content in the journalist code of conduct.
General Secretary of the Federation, Ram Prasad Dahal, issued a statement on Wednesday and stated that this order from the court, ignoring the jurisdiction of the council, is contrary to the international values of press freedom, the provision and spirit of Nepal's Constitution 2072. The statement said, "The Constitution has guaranteed complete press freedom in its preamble. This constitutional system of freedom of the press cannot be limited by the order of any body.
The federation expressed its objection saying that the order of the court is against the rules and spirit of the Constitution of Nepal, the popular belief and practice of freedom of the press. "The Federation urges the relevant authorities to reconsider the said order and makes it clear that otherwise it will be forced to take court proceedings and other activities against it," the statement said.
The Federation has also drawn attention to the fact that the press council of Nepal is under the jurisdiction of the press council to take the complaint of the victim and take action against it in case of dissatisfaction with the news published/broadcast in the media. Similarly, Press Union, Press Chautari, Press Center, Freedom Forum and other organizations have also opposed the court's order.
Bizmandu.com and Nepal Khabar have stated that they will not remove the news. Bizmandu wrote through an editorial note on Wednesday that it did not understand the order issued by the court and that it was unaware of which topic or context to remove the publication. "Our initial understanding is that the court order is challengeable in accordance with Nepal's constitution, the prevailing journalistic code of conduct and Nepal's international commitments," said Bijmandu, "We will join the legal process and respond to this matter." We are confident that the court will act in a responsible manner in favor of press freedom.' We are ready to face any level of scrutiny regarding the credibility of the content we publish. We do not shy away from accountability. Nepalkhabar said, "This order issued by the court to ban the production and publication of more news and content on a certain subject is against the fundamental rights of the press and freedom of expression protected by the constitution."
