11 February 2021, Kathmandu
The Prachanda-Nepal faction of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has strongly condemned the arrest of its leader Ram Kumari Jhakri.
In a strongly-worded statement issued following Jhakri’s arrest, the disgruntled faction has objected to the arrest saying that the Oli-led government has unveiled its undemocratic, despotic, and unconstitutional characteristics by arresting Jhakri for expressing her views.
Jhakri’s arrest has made a mockery of the Constitution that guarantees the right to freedom of expression which is the fundamental right of the citizen, reads the statement.
Given the fact that no one or an individual involved in politics is above criticism in a democratic country, the government detained Jhakri from her house today for making political comments on the president by misinterpreting it as ‘an act of treason against the state’.
Saying that the arrest of Jhakri is nothing more than a despotic, arbitrary, and prejudiced attitude of the Oli-led government, the faction has urged the government to immediately release its leader without condition.
Police have arrested Jhakri by handing over an arrest warrant to her under the ‘act of treason against the state’ from her Shankhamul-based residence at 1 pm today.
