The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), an umbrella organisation of journalists in Nepal, has condemned the arrest of Dayaram Dahal, a Jhapa-based journalist, by Indian security personnel on May 29.

In a statement on Friday, the FNJ said that the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB), a paramilitary border security force of India, arrested Dahal from Mechi Bridge which serves as a border between Nepal and India.

Dahal was covering the Bhutanese refugees’ ‘Long March’ for repatriation to their country when he was arrested by Indian security personnel.

The Indian government is learnt to have filed a case against Dahal charging him of ‘border encroachment’, an accusation the FNJ dismissed as ‘not true’ and demanded Dahal’s immediate release.

Dahal has been admitted at North Bengal Medical College in Bagdogra in India following severe beating by the Indian security personnel, reports said. A team of journalists representing the Jhapa branch of FNJ that visited Dahal at the hospital said he has sustained bruises all over his body through police beating.