Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
RSP President fired Nepal Police Chief for not handcuffing NC leader Khand
Fact
RSP President is not in a position to take action against IGP Kunwar
A video claiming that Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane has taken action against Nepal Police Chief and the latter has lost his job for not handcuffing former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Bal Krishna Khand. Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Nepal Police on May 10 had arrested NC leader Bal Krishna Khand in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam. A dozen people including senior politicians and bureaucrats have been implicated in the illegal racket involved in sending Nepali citizens to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @luckybro195 posted a video showing images of RSP President Rabi Lamichhane and Nepal Police Inspector General (IGP) Basanta Kunwar. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Rabi took action against IGP. IGP lost his job for not handcuffing Khand. What can we expect when the police who are supposed to take action against the people are dishonest?” Audio accompanying the video presented in a news reporting style says, “Namaskar! Bureaucrats are paid their salaries from the tax paid by the Nepali people and the leaders are elected through voting from the public. But the recent incident has demonstrated that the government employees have been discriminatory in their treatment of people and political leaders. Nepal police didn’t use handcuffs while arresting former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand in the Bhutanese refugee case, but if the accused had been an ordinary citizen, they would have definitely handcuffed him. Everyone is equal before the law, it should be the case. Any accused in police custody should mandatorily be handcuffed while they are presented before the court or taken to the hospital for medical check-up regardless of their offence. Why did the police provide special facilities for Khand, while they squeeze scores of people in a single room? In fact, the police administration has presented itself in a submissive manner. Is Khand above the law? Nepal Police IGP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar should give answer to this question to the people.” Saying that in many instances people have been wrongly jailed for many years before the court give them a clean-chit, the voiceover goes on to ask for public opinion regarding the “special treatment” being given to Khand. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
The video posted on May 14 has garnered 18k likes, 358 users have shared it and 795 people have commented until the last count.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the video, Newshecker analysed the video and noticed a Nepali text ‘Pahilo Satya Samachar’ on the video screen. Taking it as a clue, we conducted a search on YouTube and found a video whose frame exactly matched the viral video. The 2.38-minute video posted on the YouTube channel named ‘Pahilo SATYA Samachar’ exactly matched the viral video.
Further, we checked the other videos posted on the channel and found that the channel has been regularly posting unverified and sensational news regarding the burning political issues facing the country.
Then, we checked the official website of Nepal Police and found a freshly updated news regarding the Home Secretary’s visit and address at Nepal Police Headquarters. On checking the article posted on May 16, we found that Nepal Police IGP Kunwar among others were present during the Home Secretary’s visit. We also found a photo, on the twitter page of Nepal Police, showing IGP Kunwar presenting a bouquet to Home Secretary Dinesh Bhattarai while welcoming him at Nepal Police Headquarters today.
The claim that Rabi Lamichhane has taken action against IGP Kunwar is misleading as he is not in the government though he had briefly held the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister earlier in January before he stepped down after the Supreme Court found him guilty on a citizenship case.
Conclusion
The viral video claiming that RSP President Rabi Lamichhane took action against the police chief for not handcuffing Khand, and the police chief lost his job is not true.
Result: False
Sources
Pahilo SATYA Samachar/YouTube, 13 May 2023
Nepal Police Headquarters, 16 May 2023
Nepal Police Twitter, 16 May 2023
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
