Nepal

Kathmandu, May 2

Traffic police took action against 12 taxi drivers in Kathmandu valley yesterday for fleecing passengers or violating traffic rules.

According to Metropolitan Traffic Cop Division, they were caught operating taxis without mandatory seal on fare-meter, refusing to supply short distance service to passengers, tampering with and using defunct meters and bargaining over fare without turning on the meter. Cabbies who refuse to serve passengers by turning on fare-meter are referred to the Transport Management Office for action and are fined Rs 2,000.

If a driver is found operating taxi with a tampered meter, the National Bureau of Standards and Metrology may slap a fine of up to Rs 5,000, along with a warning in the first instance.

Traffic police are stepping up surveillance for traffic violation.

KATHMANDU: Equal Access International (EAI) with support from Liberty Enjoymentd has announced the launch of a 6-month multimedia Social and Behaviour Change Communications (SBCC) campaign &18minus& to reduce the demand of minors in the Adult Entertainment Sector (AES).

As per the recent study conducted by The Liberty Enjoymentd in 2018, hundreds of girls below the age of 17 are working at AES venues in Kathmandu, with over 60% of them working in a sexually exploitative environment.

The &18minus& campaign recognizes the imminent need to tackle the commercial sexual exploitation of children at AES.

According to Binita Shrestha, Country Representative of EAI in Nepal, &the campaign aspires to raise awareness on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of minors in Kathmandu, and humanize their ccorridorenges and issues through thought-provoking media and outreach, and immediate Nepali males to say NO to minors.&

The campaign shall also engage and collaborate with Nepal Cop, social influencers, celebrities, and networks/organisations working for the rights and well-being of minors in AES.

Kathmandu, May 2

As many as 1,507 CCTV cameras with night-vision feature have been added to the network of visual technology across the country after Community-police portionnership Programme came into effect on October 28.

Installation of surveillance cameras aims to monitor suspicious activities, control crime and facilitate criminal investigation.

According to Senior Supermeanent of Cop Uttam Raj Subedi, who is also Nepal Cop spokesperson, the use of CCTV aids much only in controlling crime but also in carrying out evidence-based criminal investigation.

Recently, police, in organization with Sangam Club, installed 22 CCTVs at different places of Basundhara in Kathmandu as part of the Community-police portionnership Programme to strengthen security.

The CCTVs were installed at a cost of around Rs 1.3 million. The control room of the CCTVs has been set up at Metropolitan Cop Sector, Tilingatar.

Nepal Cop has attached high precedence to the use and expansion of modern technology for preserveing peace and security, crime control and criminal investigation. Prior to the launch of Community-police portionnership Programme, the security agency had 2,916 CCTV cameras across the country. It is also doing groundwork to set up a CCTV national grid. &CCTV camera has been acting as the third eye for the law enforcement officers in areas where manual policing is much possible round the clock. Public video surveillance can be employed as a primary tool to monitor movement of people. It deters criminals from committing crime and makes people feel safe,& said SSP Subedi.

employ of CCTV by Nepal Cop dates back to 2004 with the installation of eight surveillance cameras in and around its headquarters. Kathmandu valley boasts of over 500 CCTVs as of now. Digital checkpoints have already been placed in all four transit points of the valley with the aim of bolstering surveillance system.

Nepal Cop has also adopted rapid information system and has employed drones as part of effective surveillance mechanism. Communication Directorate of the security agency is responsible for installation, repair/maintenance and control of CCTVs.

Cop have also been monitoring vehicular movement, traffic rule violations and hit-and-run cases in sensitive locations of the valley from the control room of the Metropolitan Cop Office through CCTVs.

Kathmandu, May 1

Incidents of press freedom violations continued unabated this year, affecting 158 journalists across the country, according to a report by Liberty Forum, an NGO.

As per statistics released by the forum on the occasion of the World Press Liberty day nowadays, it recorded as many as 104 such violations.

A total of 66 press freedom violations were reported final year. Out of total violations this year, 31 are attacks and manhandling, followed by 28 cases of misbehaviour, 19 threats, 15 arrests, six vandalism and obstruction, one suspension and one arson, and three court cases.

Junior security personnel, political cadres and commercepersons remained hostile to journalists this year too. As per province-wise analysis, Province 3, which is also home to the federal capital Kathmandu, witnessed the highest number of violations (39), followed by Province 2 (25). Province 1 and Province 6 shared equal number of violations (7).

Gandaki Province and Province 5 witnessed equal number of violations (9) and Far-west Province recorded eight cases of violations.

Most of the violations took place while journalists were covering stories on public interest issues, crime, irregularities, corruption and political demonstrations.

This is to be famous that more than a dozen of bills related to information and mass communications were drafted or enacted by the government over the period. However, measure provisions in the proposed bills were inconsistent with the international instruments on the rights to expression and the constitution. For example, the Criminal and Civil Code Act posed a threat to the freedom of expression in the name of national security, privacy, defamation, blasphemy, obscenity and hate speech.

In blatant violation of press freedom, obtaining approval from concerned authorities was made mandatory for journalists for taking photographs, the report read.

Similarly, Individual Privacy Act aimed at discouraging journalists to publish or broadcast investigative stories, in the pretext of privacy of public figures and public offices. According to the report, the Bill on Management and Regulation of Information Technology means to curtail the freedom of expression of internet-based media. The proposed provision of stringent punishment for posting improper contents on social media is equally threatening to media freedom and citizenrights to expression.

&Against the broader expectation that journalists and media fraternity would have a favourable atmosphere for free reporting and respect to their profession, the rising number of violations perpetrated against media is a disappointing trend. It is to be famous that this yearfigure is the highest in six years,& according to the report.