Kathmandu/New Delhi: Police in Nepal on Friday (October 30) took into custody at least three journalists and attempted to apprehend the Naya Patrika Daily‘s editor Khagendra Pant and senior correspondent Nabaraj Mainali as well.Those taken into custody were released after a few hours. Police spent two hours in the newsroom of the Naya Patrika Daily and left the office after urging Pant and Mainali to appear before the cybercrime bureau.Police had also picked up Bisomani Subedi, a senior correspondent of Nepal Press, an online outlet. Its chief editor Matrika Poudel as well as chairman Bindu Raj Lamsal were summoned by the cyber bureau and taken into custody.Similarly, police tried to apprehend journalists from Diyopost, an online outlet.Neither the Nepal police nor government agencies have said anything about why the journalists were detained or summoned to the cyber bureau.Over the last few days, some media outlets have reported about the government’s alleged preparations to dismiss police chief Dan Bahadur Karki, which the police had called baseless in a statement yesterday.And on Thursday, Pant and Mainali had also broken a story for the Nepali-language Naya Patrika Daily revealing that Inam Sapkota, who is said to be a power broker, had asked Supreme Court Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal to dismiss a case claiming Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s interest in it, following which the judge discussed the matter with Sapkota and proposed to meet him at a hotel the next day. Sapkota was taken into custody last month in an alleged indecent behaviour case.The revelations, the Kathmandu Post notes, have shaken Nepal’s judiciary at a time when it is grappling with internal tensions.Prime Minister Shah’s office said it was not involved in the journalists’ arrests nor had it received prior information about them. It issued instructions for their release as well as for police to refrain from entering newsrooms and roughing up journalists.Notably, the cyber bureau over the last few months has directly dealt with issues relating to the media, bypassing the Press Council Nepal. The government has also targeted mainstream media houses by apprehending journalists and blocking government advertisements to private media houses.The ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party has objected to Friday’s crackdown, stating that it is contrary to its policy and principles. Jagadish Kharel, a spokesperson for the party, said that arresting journalists or harassing them under the guise of interrogation over news articles contravenes the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.The statutory and quasi-judicial Press Council Nepal too condemned the action, highlighting that detaining journalists just before a public holiday without offering clear reasons, producing arrest warrants or obtaining court permission “is a matter of serious objection”.“This incident, which took place against the backdrop of a statement issued by the police headquarters, has raised serious questions about press freedom and the professional safety of journalists,” the Council said in a statement in Nepali.Noting its mandate to investigate and resolve complaints against news reports, the Council urged the government and the police to seek solutions through its established procedures “rather than directly mobilise the police on the news itself”. It also urged the authorities to disclose the legal basis for apprehending the journalists and to release them if they picked them up without one.