Kathmandu, August 19: The Patan High Court has issued an interim order barring the arrest of Kishor Shrestha, chairman of Jan Aastha Prakashan Pvt. Ltd. A single bench of Justice Achyut Kuikel issued the order today (Bhadra 3), addressed to the District Police Range, Lalitpur.
Shrestha had filed a writ petition at the court seeking an injunction, stating that he was being unlawfully subjected to harassment and was at risk of arrest over a news report published in the newspaper. The Jan Aastha weekly had published a report on Shrawan 27 under the headline, “Madam, Please Improve Yourself, There Is Still Time.”
According to the court order, a complaint had been filed with the Press Council Nepal regarding the report, and after the Council sought clarification, the newspaper had already published a rebuttal and response. As there was a possibility that the police could arrest Shrestha before the complaint filed with the Press Council had been resolved, the court issued the interim order to protect his personal liberty.
Recalling the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the court based its order on the fact that “Article 17 of the Constitution of Nepal guarantees freedom of opinion and expression, while Article 19 also guarantees the right to communication.”
Taking into account another order issued by the Supreme Court on Bhadra 1, the High Court also issued a show-cause order to the defendants, asking them to submit a written response within 15 days explaining why an order should not be issued as demanded by the petitioner. The court order states: “Until the final disposal of the present petition, [the authorities] shall not harass or apprehend the petitioner, arrest him, detain him, or take or cause to be taken any such action.”
Senior advocates Yuvraj Sangraula, Govinda Prasad Sharma Bandi, Tikaram Bhattarai and Amar Thapa, among others, argued the case before the court on behalf of petitioner Shrestha.
Likewise, advocates Badriprasad Bhusal, Bhupal Basnet, Premraj Silwal, Chudamani Paudel, Tikabahadur Kunwar, Mukunda Adhikari, Anantaraj Luintel, Ramchandra Gautam, Rajaram Ghimire, Krishnakumar Angdambe, Sujata KC and Abhas Regmi also presented legal arguments on behalf of the petitioner.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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