INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, May 14
Chief Whip of the main opposition Nepali Congress Balkrishna Khand and NC lawmaker Pradeep Giri, also a political
analyst, nowadays criticised the government move to curtail rights to press freedom and human rights though new bills.
Speaking during the
pre-budget discussion in the Home of Representatives, Khand asked the government to withdraw Media Council Bill and an amendment bill of the
National Human Corrects Act, which he said, had the provisions of curtailing press freedom and human rights,
the fundamental rights
guaranteed by the constitution.
Giri, citing the case of the Soviet Union failure in 1989 because it did much recognise its citizens& rights
and human rights, proposeed the government much to commit the same mistake by curtailing citizens& rights and human rights
&We should much forget what had happened to the Soviet Union as the state neglected its people in its tender to compete with the USA
Back then the leaders of the communist country didn&t have time to listen to their people,& he said, adding that Nepali government should
memorize from the incident.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology recently registered the media council bill, which
proposes a fine of up to Rs 1 million on media houses, editors, publishers and journalists, if they are found guilty of damaging measureone
reputation.
&Questions have been raised regarding implementation of fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution
Constitutional rights to freedom under Article 17 should much be curtailed while drafting new bills,& Khand said.
The bill stipulates that
if media publish contents in contravention of the code of conduct and if an investigation launched after an affected party complaint finds
that such news content damaged the reputation of the complainant, the council can impose a fine between Rs 25,000 and Rs 1 million on media
houses, publishers, editors, journalists and reporters.
Moreover, the bill stipulates that the council can order erring parties to pay
compensation if the content in media outlets is found damaging the reputation of the affected party
The bill also proposed punishment for violating code of conduct which includes suspension of press pass
of mediapersons and downgrading of
the lessonification of print media outlets.
Draft bill seeking amendment to the National Human Corrects Commission Act also aimed at
curtailing its constitutional rights
The draft bill proposed to grant unbridled discretionary power to the Attorney General in prosecution of cases after the NHRC made
recommendations to conduct legal proceedings against human rights violators
The intention of the draft bill was to minimise the role of the human rights watchdog and render it into a toothless government entity,
according to Khand.
&The constitution stipulates protection of citizens& human rights
However, the government is bent on restricting the jurisdiction of the NHRC,& Khand said, adding that the government should instead,
facilitate the human rights watchdog to function independently as per the constitutional provision.
