The Kathmandu District Court has issued an Interlocutory interim order directing two online news websites, Nepal Khabar and Bizmandu, to immediately remove articles published about Santosh Narayan Shrestha, chair of the Securities Board of Nepal.

Judge Pitambar Sharma issued the order on Tuesday in response to two separate petitions filed by Shrestha on June 9 seeking the removal of the articles. He claimed the publications had defamed him, caused reputational harm, and published content without verification.

“News articles under various headlines have harmed the petitioner’s dignity and reputation, and the publication of such defamatory content has caused irreparable damage,” Judge Sharma wrote in the order. “Considering the balance of convenience, the defendants are ordered not to publish or broadcast unverified, baseless content, and to remove the already published articles immediately.”

The court has also called a hearing for June 18 to review the interim order and hear the responses from the two outlets.

The decision has sparked strong reactions from the media fraternity. Nirmala Sharma, chair of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, called the order “serious” and wrote on Facebook that the issue requires extensive legal debate.

Umesh Bagchand, vice-chair of the federation, said Nepal’s constitution guarantees full press freedom, and repeated orders to delete news content are alarming. General Secretary Ram Prasad Dahal added that court directives to delete published articles go against the constitution and the journalistic code of conduct.

Federation treasurer Ram Krishna Adhikari also criticised the court’s move in a Facebook post, calling it a “serious blow” to the spirit of press freedom. “Issuing such orders from the court, despite the existence of regulatory bodies like the Press Council Nepal, undermines the fundamental rights to press freedom, information flow, and public access to information,” Adhikari said.

The Federation of Nepali Journalists, however, has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.