Kathmandu

The extension lines in the office rang one after the other on May 6 early evening: the calls were regarding the news about actor Rekha Thapa’s untimely demise, some wanting to know if we had heard, some asking if it was true.

The online portal — meganews360.com — had posted the news of Thapa’s demise. “Rekha Thapa, the Nepali actress is announced dead a few hours ago after she collapsed in her residence. According to Dr Nasir Iqbal, the Nepali actress-cum-model was rushed to the Norvic International Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal but died shortly after just when the doctors were attending to her.”

However, this turned out to be fake news and The Himalayan Times talked to the actor herself who said, “I feel bad. How can these people play with somebody’s life?”

Thapa said she heard the news of her death first from her close friends and felt bad.

She also said that this is not the first time the portal has published news of her death. “This is the fourth time that they have reported my death.”

And the actor informed that she is not the only one who has been the target of this death hoax. “They also published the news of death of former president Ram Baran Yadav,” she said adding, “Just to increase page views, they post such fake news. My relatives and friends felt sad when they heard the news. The people do not realise that it might affect the health of my family and relatives.”

Though Thapa has not lodged a formal complaint yet, she said that she is planning to take legal action after holding discussions with people from her industry.

Considered one of the most successful actors, Thapa has acted in over 80 movies with at least six of her movies being released a year. Some of her popular films are Kismat, Hifajat, Palash, Himmatwali, among others.

The Electronic Transaction Act (ETA) 2063 was passed in 2004 in Nepal, which is known as the Cyber Law. It protects users online against cyber crimes. Under the Act, hacking, deleting data, stealing e-documents, software piracy and posting defamatory information is liable to criminal and civil cases on individuals and institutions. “If found guilty, the government can punish the offenders with up to five years of jail time and/or a fine of up to Rs 50,000,” said SSP Dinesh Amatya, Metropolitan Police Crime Division. “However, it depends on the case,” said Amatya.

Likewise, Section 47 of ETA (2008), states that it is an offence to publish or display material any of which are prohibited by the prevailing laws, or which may be contrary to public morality or decent behaviour in the electronic media, including the Internet. The penalty for this offence is a fine of Rs 1 lakh, and/or upto five years imprisonment.