Press Council Condemns Threat to Throw Chairperson Out of Window

Press Council Nepal has strongly condemned an incident in which a journalist allegedly threatened to throw the council’s chairperson out of an office window during a contentious meeting held at the regulatory body’s central office in Kathmandu on Tuesday morning.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday, Ashoj 13, four members of the Press Council board—Namrata Sharma, Raviraj Baral, Upasana Ghimire, and Prakash Bhakta Mathema—expressed grave concern over what they described as an unacceptable breach of institutional decorum. The confrontation took place during formal talks between council officials and a delegation representing the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ). The discussions had been arranged to examine persistent disputes surrounding the distribution and management of government-funded public welfare advertisements.

According to the council's statement, the dialogue turned hostile inside the chairperson’s executive chamber when journalist Dipak Pandey allegedly issued direct personal threats. Pandey is accused of telling the council chief, "I will pick you up and throw you out the window," among other intimidating remarks. In addition to the verbal threat against the chairperson, the council said several other attendees behaved in an insulting and disrespectful manner toward administrative employees who were present during the deliberations.

The talks were tied to a set of professional demands submitted by the Print Media Protection Suggestion Task Force, an initiative focused on securing state support and advertising revenue for print publications. Reporting by Lokpath provided additional context on the dispute, noting that the FNJ had been staging ongoing sit-in protests directly outside the Press Council offices over welfare advertising policies prior to Tuesday's formal meeting.

Lokpath identified the chairperson as Umesh Shrestha; the board's statement referred to the office only. None of the reports carried a response from Pandey.

Addressing the confrontation, the council board members stated that dialogue, debate, and divergent opinions are natural when discussing media policy and industry grievances. Nonetheless, they maintained that intimidation, aggressive rhetoric, and the mistreatment of office staff are intolerable in an institutional setting. While reiterating that the council respects the right of journalists to advocate for professional and economic interests, the statement stressed that all future engagements must be conducted with mutual respect, dignity, and civic responsibility.