Former President Ram Baran Yadav on Saturday said that the arrest of Kailash Sirohiya, chairman of Kantipur Media Group, was unconstitutional and against the law.

Speaking at the 17th annual meeting of the Kaski chapter of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Yadav said that the government’s move was against the constitution and law.

“If mistakes had been made, the chief district office (CDO) could send a letter to the concerned individual, asking them to be present at the office on a given date. The CDO would correct the mistake,” the former President said.

Yadav further added that he was quite familiar with the Sirohiya family since they were all locals of Janakpur.

“His [Kailash Sirohiya] father was a modest man, Ghansiram Marwadi. When other Marwadi families came to Nepal, they all received citizenship cards overnight. But he [Ghansiram] couldn’t,” Yadav said. “Anyone who bribed the officials could have their citizenship cards made, but Ghansiram Marwadi did not get that.”

According to Yadav, the senior Sirohiya received his citizenship certificate after Hemraj Gyawali, who later became chairman of Kantipur Publications, took office as the chief district officer of Dhanusha during the panchayat system.

“They [Sirohiya family] are genuine Nepalis who arrived in Nepal a century ago.”

Yadav said that though Nepal’s media sector has grown significantly, there are many challenges as the government authorities don’t abide by even the provisions of the constitution. “Therefore, this is a big challenge for them,” he added.

Harihar Birahi, former president of the FNJ, also said that the KMG chair’s arrest was an infringement of press freedom, adding that the move had created fear among the general public.

“Now there is no environment to do journalism freely,” he said.

Birahi also claimed that the tendency to control and impose restrictions on the media remains constant regardless of who is in the government.

“The current government is making arrangements for stricter laws to control the media and journalists. We must be aware of the possible situation on time,” Birahi added.

Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is trying to exact vengeance against Kantipur for bringing the cooperative scams to light and doing timely reporting on the issue, said Ramesh Bista, FNJ’s senior vice-chair.

Bista also claimed that the publisher and journalists could not be seen differently since journalism was possible because of the publisher.

“The situation was different previously when a single person was both the publisher and the editor,” he said. “In today’s context, if there are no publishers, there will be no mainstream journalism. It is not right for the government to attack the media in such a situation.”