Youtubers breaching privacy of woman arrested

Kathmandu, 31 December (2021) - Sabita (name changed), 32, hailing from Kathmandu, works in a private company.

She has been married for seven years and has a son studying in kindergarten level.

Born and brought up in Kathmandu and married to an educated family, she was living with her husband and in-laws.

Her husband works in the private sector. They were living happily.

The younger brother of her father-in-law lives near their house. He too is a jobholder.

As their offices are close to each other, Sabita and the younger brother of her father-in-law go to the office together.

One day this happy and prosperous family caught the eye of youtubers.

Youtubers Shishir Adhikari, Pinkala Karki and Rodhan Tamang complained about Sabita's conduct to her father-in-law Ram Bahadur (name change) to generate sensational videos and reap dollars.

The youtubers told her father-in-law that Sabita is promiscuous. She has an affair with his brother.

At the first he didn't believe them and even scolded them.

But the youtubers kept feeding him with lies. They provided wrong information about Sabita's activities to the father-in-law.

He then started to believe them and doubted Sabita. He even started to think if she was really doing wrong.

Youtubers were waiting for that exact moment.

Then they took the video of the father-in-law. They even taught him what and how to say.

"My daughter-in-law has loose character. She has an affair with my own brother," they made him say. Later, they uploaded the video with a sensational title.

Youtubers Pradip Bhandari with channel Dainik Khabar, Shishir Adhikari with channel Harek Palko Khabar, Pinkala Karki with channel Saraichuli Media and Rodhan Tamang with channel Modern Online TV uploaded and disseminated the video.

That video destroyed a well-established and a happy family.

The lack of trust among family members destroyed their social status too.

Even her husband started to have doubts and she was left alone.

No one believed her even when she pleaded innocence.

She then filed a police complaint on her friend's suggestion.

"She said that she had attempted suicide twice before she came here," an investigating police officer told Lokantar. "She was able to tell the details only after counselling."

She didn't know who was behind all these. But she knew the name of Youtube channels.

She then filed a complaint against those Youtube channels and the operators.

Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police started the investigation.

The team arrested four people from different places in Kathmandu.

They were investigated by the police for 21 days.

A case was then filed at Kathmandu District Court by the public prosecutor's office.

The accused were released on bail to the tune of Rs 50,000 by the district court on November 6. The case is sub judice.

Peddlers of false news have been brought under investigation. But Sabita's social prestige is yet to be restored.

She is still living separately from her family which does not believe her.

Pressure to release culprits

An investigating police officer said that the bureau received numerous phone calls from police officers, family businessmen and ministers after the arrest of the Youtubers.

"A retired SP, a businessman, members of parliament and ministers pressured us to release them," said the police officer. "We ignored them and proceeded with the investigation and brought the culprit to justice."

Bureau officials said that well-known artists have been urging to release them.

"Even famous artists called us late night to release Pradip Bhandari and Shishir Adhikari," the officer said. "They tried to put as much pressure on us as they could."

The bureau said that both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Headquarters directed to arrest and take action against the YouTubers violating personal privacy and social reputation of an individual.