Man arrested for superimposing Nepal PM KP Oli's face on monkey's body

Representational picture

A man has been arrested for allegedly sharing a morphed image on Facebook showing Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli's head superimposed on a monkey's body, police said. Homnath Sigdel, 44, was arrested yesterday for "sharing the indecent photograph that aimed at the prime minister's character assassination", a senior police officer said.

The morphed image appeared on a Facebook group earlier this month and has been shared for more than 2,600 times. Police said that Sigdel had also posted a second photo of Oli's head on a naked human body. Sigdel, a village committee's secretary in Bhaktapur district near Kathmandu, could face up to five years in jail or a 100,000 rupee (USD 900) fine or both if found guilty under a provision of the Electronic Transactions Act. The arrest comes days after Nepal introduced a new criminal code that includes draconian laws which the activists have warned could be used to suppress critics of the government.

The Communist-led two-third majority government headed by KP Oli has shown increasing intolerance of dissent ever since it came to power six months back, observer said. This is total violation of the Constitution, which guarantees fundamental rights of the people, said senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi commenting on the issue. Prime Minister's fun cannot be made the subject for prosecution, he said, adding that the PM is not above law and there is every possibility that he comes under public criticism. This is a mockery of democracy and the action taken by the security agencies on this shows the characteristic of a communist dictatorship, he said.

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