Basnet, who hogged the media headlines by publicly admitting to having protected Parshuram Basnet, the mastermind behind the attack on Republica scribe Khilanath Dhakal, said, “I will lodge a spurious complaint with police against him (Niraula) for sexually harassing our female cadres.”[break]
Talking to local journalists on Thursday night after police released him following an agreement between Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara and CPN-UML) youth in-charge Yogesh Bhattarai in Kathmandu, Basnet, who appeared visibly angry at journalists, accused Niraula of filing a false case.
Niraula had lodged a complaint against Youth Force (YF)´s Morang district chief Parshuram Basnet for thrashing Dhakal. Parshuram has been absconding ever since. Basnet has made a fresh claim that Parshuram is still with him. Basnet was arrested while preparing for a show of strength against journalists on Thursday.
Meanwhile, issuing a joint statement Friday, Morang district chapters of Press Union, Press Chautari and Revolutionary Journalists´ Association have termed what Basnet said as "an unbecoming statement by the chairman of a responsible sister organization of a political party." They said Basnet showed a signs of a deranged mind in issuing such a ridiculous statement.
Meanwhile, Sunsari district chapter of the FNJ on Friday announced a 10-day protest program to pile pressure on the administration to arrest the accused. Similarly, labor unions of various political parties on Friday announced to launch a fresh round of agitation against the administration´s inability to nab the perpetrator. At an interaction held on Friday, they also demanded an end of the reign of hooliganism.
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