Media Fraternity Expresses Concern Over Safety of Journalists on Duty

The media fraternity has expressed concern over Sunday’s incident in which Sabina Karki, a journalist with Prime Television, sustained eye injuries while covering the teachers’ protest during which police fired water cannons to prevent the teachers from entering the prohibited zone at New Baneshwor.

Karki has said that water cannon hit her face when she had just taken out her phone and turned it on to record the incident.

"I could not see, my mind went blank," she told a YouTube channel: I cried for help. A ma'am (a protesting teacher) approached police, who subsequently took me to the Civil Hospital."

Karki is currently receiving treatment at the Tilganga Eye Hospital. 

Meanwhile, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has condemned the police action on a journalist on duty. Praying for a speedy recovery of the injured journalist, it has demanded an investigation into the incident, legal action against the guilty and necessary arrangements for the treatment of the injured.

While Media Action Nepal has urged police to not use excessive force and be cautious to ensure the safety of journalists covering protests. “This is another piece of evidence of the failure of security forces in less than a month (to prevent such incidents)," it quotes its executive director Laxman Dutta Pant, recalling the death of Suresh Rajak, a journalist with Avenues TV, in an incident of arson during the protest of pro-royalist forces in Tinkune on March 28. 
The journalists' body has demanded that the authorities cover Karki’s medical expenses until she fully recovers and urged security forces to always refrain from using excessive force.