The social media regulation bill presented by the government in the parliament has seriously hit the freedom of expression.

If this bill becomes law, not only the constitutional right of citizens to speak, but the very existence of a free press may be in jeopardy. Unable to tolerate criticism, the government has dared to impose legal restrictions to silence citizens' voices, terrorize journalists and control the press.
If someone opposes corruption, oppression, inefficiency or wrong policies of the government, he can be sentenced to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to 1.5 million. After the implementation of this bill, which shakes the foundation of freedom of the press, any voice against the government will be automatically silenced. The essence of democracy is to encourage the critical consciousness of citizens. However, the government is daring to push democracy towards authoritarianism by controlling freedom of expression. It is clear that this bill was introduced to bring the free press into the clutches of the government, to keep the citizens in fear and to hide the truth. If the government wants to control the distortions of social media, it can make reasonable legal reforms for that, but laws that punish criticism cannot be accepted under any circumstances. If the parliament passes this bill without amendment, the right to speak in Nepal will be limited to paper. When citizens are forced to remain silent, corruption, abuse of power and injustice will flourish. If this bill becomes a law, Nepal will turn into an autocracy disguised as a democracy. Therefore, this anti-people bill should be repealed immediately.

– Santosh Simkhada , Tokyo, Japan