Police encircled around 20 journalists who had gone to collect news and beat up them, leaving two of them seriously injured.[break] Jaya Narayan Jha of Janaki FM and Bikash Sah of Mithilanchal FM are undergoing treatment at Kantipur Hospital in Kathmandu after being flown to the capital in the afternoon. Two other commoners are also currently receiving treatment in Kathmandu.
Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), Dhanusha, said police thrashed them with the butt of gun and kicked them. Journalists including Dhairya Kanta Dutta, Birendra Raman, Ishwar Chandra Jha, Navin Singh, Laxman Yadav and Jagdish Sah were also injured in the attack. They are being treated in Janakpur Zonal Hospital.
Journalists claim police showed unprecedented ire against media and attacked them at Bhanu Chowk saying ´these are the ones writing against the police´. Local journalists are so scared with the police that they don´t even recount the incident on record. "The local police have gone out of control and even lost human feeling," station manager of a local FM said refusing to be named.
SP Sarbendra Nath Khanal, who replaced Dhanusha police chief Shyam Khadka as directed by the headquarters, said police were forced to fire rubber bullets to take the protestors under control. "Police may have beaten journos for failing to recognize them," he argued. He refused that police intentionally attacked the media men wearing green jackets and identity cards. CDO Ved Bahadur Karki conceded that force was used after an all-party meeting held earlier on the day failed to reach agreement.
Karki added that the administration couldn´t fulfill the demand of suspending SP Khadka and inspector Abhusan Timilsina for attacking journalists on Saturday. Meanwhile Minister of State for Physical Planning and Works Sanjay Sah said the agitation would not be stopped until the officer duo was suspended.
Republica journo thrashed
Police mercilessly thrashed Republica´s Janakpur correspondent Suresh Kumar Yadav who had gone to collect news at a local police post on Saturday. Yadav was Sunday discharged from Kathmandu Model Hospital in the capital.
Yadav was beaten under instruction of Dhanusha Police Chief SP Shyam Khadka inside the temporary police post at the railway station.
Yadav said he was covering a news after locals demonstrated against the alleged rape of an Indian woman from Madhubani, Bihar, by the in-charge of the police post Baburam Jha. Police had used force after locals vandalized the post demanding Jha be brought out.
"I was clicking photographs of the incident when a team led by SP Khadka arrived and asked the policemen why they didn´t open fire. They started using force and hit me on my tummy after Khadka again ordered to thrash journos," Yadav revealed. "They kept on hitting me saying why I was taking photographs even when I said I was a journalist," Yadav added.
Incident of rape
According to Republica correspondent from Lahan Mithilesh Yadav, locals had attacked Jha for allegedly raping a newly married woman who had come to Janakpur from Madhubani in India.
"After getting married at Janakpur temple on Friday evening, the couple looked for a lodge room to stay that night. As they did not get any room, they just stranded at the rail station. In the mean time, some youths tried to bully them before Jha came to intervene and took both to the police office. Jha then forced her into his room and raped her, leaving her groom in another room. And, raping her throughout the night, he left her at Ram Janaki chowk on Saturday morning," said Uma Shankar Aragriya, president of Madhesi People´s Right Forum, Dhanusha, quoting the woman.
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