Press Council directs sidhakura to remove fake content

Press Council Nepal has directed sidhakura.com to remove a fake news published on April 26, 2024, claiming that the leadership of Annapurna Media Network and Kantipur Publications were part of a meeting involving sitting and former Supreme Court justices and senior lawyers to dismiss more than 400 corruption cases. The news portal has named Capt. Rameshwar Thapa, chairman of Annapurna Media Network (AMN), and Kailash Sirohiya, chairman of Kantipur Publications, as key members of the so-called high profile secret meeting.

The Press Council has instructed the news portal to take down the news and furnish clarification for publishing such malicious and fabricated content. The made-up report advertised to readers as ‘exclusive’ is aimed at damaging the reputation of the Supreme Court as well as the media houses, the press body said in a statement. It is in serious violation of Journalistic Code of Conduct, it added. The fabricated news has seriously undermined the constitutional court and has made serious allegations against justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai.

Earlier, on the same day, Thapa filed a case at Press Council Nepal. AMN Chairman Thapa said the so-called news was published with an ill intention to assassinate his character and to defame the media institutions associated with him.

“These are baseless and misleading rumours to manipulate the people and to serve some interest groups," he said. "The questionable content published under the garb of ‘exclusive sting operation’ was created with extreme prejudice and filled with illusionary characters. It was a desperate act to go viral.” 

Thapa further said that sidhakura.com  has crossed the ethical and moral boundaries of journalism by trying to discredit the media institutions that have always stood for democracy. It has also besmirched the sanctity of the Supreme Court, he added, demanding legal action against the news portal. AMN management has said that it is consultation with lawyers to seek legal remedies for the reputational damage through fabricated news.

Annapurna and Kantipur news outlets have been reporting news on Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in the misappropriation of funds from a financial cooperative.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai said that he was surprised and shocked to see his name in the news published by sidhakura.

He said that his 43 years of judiciary journey is like an open book.

“The verdict of the case has already said that that I was not involved in the case,” reads a statement issued by Justice Bhattarai on Friday.

“I would also like to make it clear that when the  constitutional bench had issued the verdict on the case, I was not the member of the constitutional bench,” he said.