Writ petition filed at SC against Online Media Directive

KATHMANDU, March 26: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court against the Online Media Operation Directive the government issued recently.

The government issued the Online Media Operation Directive on March 20 with a purpose to bring the registration, renewal, operation and monitoring of the online media into a systematic process. But the various media related organizations and stakeholders have expressed concern over the Directive saying that the Directive was oriented towards controlling the online media rather than its management.

Filing petition on Sunday, journalist Prabesh Subedi and advocates Baburam Aryal and Santosh Sigdel, demanded that the SC repeal the Directive, arguing that it was against freedom of expression, right to information and the constitutional provisions.

Chairman of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Dr Mahendra Bista protested the Directive stating that the government did not heed the suggestions the FNJ and other media organizations gave relating to the Directive.

“It has come not in a way to manage but to control the online media,” he said.

According to him, the government brought the same old Directive that was against the freedom of expression on internet.

Similar version of the protest to the Directive came from General Secretary of Press Union, Ajay Babu Shivakoti, Chairperson of Press Chautari Nepal, Ganesh Basnet and former Chairman of FNJ Bishnu Nisthuri.

They said the government needed to bring the online media directive based on the stakeholders’ suggestions.