KATHMANDU, JUNE 11

An Indian freelance photo journalist, who had carried photocopies of 226 one hundred dollar bills in his hand luggage while boarding a Kathmandu bound flight from Bhadrapur, Jhapa, has been languishing in jail for past last seven months.

Twenty-four-year-old Durlabh Roy Chaudhary, a resident of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, was arrested on 18 November 2021 on the charge of carrying fake currency, a charge he denies.

Chaudhary's lawyer Advocate Suraj Khatri said his client was innocent and he should not be in jail. According to Khatri, the police acted with prejudice by not mentioning that he was a youtuber and a blogger and he had a camera at the time of his arrest. 'Chaudhary told police he had 226 photocopies of 100-dollar bills which he wanted to throw into the air in Ghandruk and shoot a documentary with the title 'money is nothing,'

Khatri said, adding, 'If my client had criminal intention, he would have chosen to travel by road and not by air. He would not have carried the questionable photocopies of dollars in his handbag and why would he ask the police if he could carry those photocopies?' Khatri wondered.

He said the printed copies had the same number and they were not of the same size. He said Chaudhary had shown the photocopies to Indian customs officials and they did not find anything wrong.

Chair of National Forum of Photo Journalists Pradeep Raj Onta said Chaudhary was innocent but he was arrested because of communication problem.

'There was language barrier between Chaudhary and the police at the airport. Chaudhary spoke in English and I guess the ordinary police personnel did not understand him,' Onta added.

He said the police did not mention in the deeds that Chaudhary was carrying a video camera.

Police deleted some photos Chaudhary had shot somewhere else. Onta said Chaudhary had shot photos of dollar bills from google search engine and the sizes of the photocopies were not identical. 'Chaudhary is innocent. He should not be in jail,'

Onta said and added that his office had demanded his release from judicial custody.

President of Federation of Nepali Journalist Bipul Pokharel said the family of the indicted photo journalist had not contacted the FNJ for help. 'As far as police investigation is concerned, we, as the umbrella organisation of journalists, will certainly assist investigators, but we are equally concerned that an innocent person should not be indicted,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 12, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.