“Police must thoroughly investigate Arun Singhaniya’s murder, the latest in a series of vicious attacks on Nepal’s press,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon, in a statement issued by the media watchdog from New York, Wednesday. “The government must do more to address the climate of impunity it has allowed to flourish following acts of violence against journalists.” [break]
It is not clear whether Simhaniya’s death was connected to coverage in his news outlets. “It does look very ominous, since they killed Uma Singh, who worked for his radio and newspaper last year,” Nepali Times editor Kunda Dixit told CPJ by e-mail. Dixit recently reported on news outlets threatened for investigating Jamim Shah’s death on the CPJ Blog.
An unidentified group on motorcycles shot the media entrepreneur at point-blank range near his home in Janakpur around 6 p.m. on Monday, killing him instantly. Sinhhaniya was the chairman of the Today Group, which publishes the daily Janakpur Today and Radio Today, the reports said. Gunmen in Kathmandu shot and killed Jamim Shah, a television network chairman, on February 8. Police have yet to determine the motive in that case, and the two murders are not known to be related.
Organizations in the Tarai have threatened journalists for their reporting in the past, according to CPJ research. Criminal groups also use the threat of violence to extort money from wealthy business owners in the region, according to news reports.
Janakpur Today and Radio Today reporter Uma Singh was stabbed to death in January 2009 in reprisal for her reporting. Local journalists say the case has yet to be effectively investigated. Nepal placed eighth on CPJ’s 2009 Impunity Index, a list of countries which have consistently failed to solve journalist murders.
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