POKHARA: The editor of Tandav Weekly (tandavweekly.com) and member of Nepal Journalists Forum, Kaski Chapter, Arjun Giri was detained and charged under cybercrime law, on Monday.

Local businessman Bipendra Batas filed a defamation case against Giri, after the weekly published a news on Batas' involvement in a land-fraud case on April 5. Giri was then arrested, charged under the electronic transaction act law.

According to Kaski District Police Office Spokesperson and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rabindra Man Gurung, the journalist was arrested from Pokhara after a case was filed against him in Kathmandu.

Issuing a press statement today, Chairman of Nepal Journalists Forum, Kaski Chapter, Dipendra Shrestha said, it was a grave mistake on the police's part to arrest the journalist as there are monitoring mechanisms to sort out issues of published news. He also demanded the immediate release of Giri.

Nepal Journalist Forum, Kaski Chapter has condemned the arrest of the journalist.