At a time when the media ordinance promulgated by the government is facing wrath from all walks of life, a defamation case has been filed at the Lamjung District Court on Tuesday on the basis of the same ordinance.

Member of the then district monitoring committee Toya Raj Ghimire filed a petition against the weekly Karmada publication on the basis of the news item published some five months ago on May 8.

Chief editor Krishna Bahadur Adhikari, editor Sudip Ghimire and manager Krishna Bhagwan Shrestha have been named as opponents of the case.

The petitioner claimed action against the paper as per the Defamation Act 2062 of the Media Ordinance.

As per the new provision, the opponents may face penalty up to 500 thousand rupees from five thousand rupees or detention of six month to two years or both.

Talking to Nepalnews, senior advocate Agni Kharel said that the demand of the petitioner is not valid as the new ordinance was formed just ten days ago and the act was committed before the ordinance was formed.

He added that it is not appropriate to file the case on the basis of the new ordinance as the legality of the ordinance was under consideration at the Supreme Court and the Court has issued show cause notice to the government in this regard.

General Secretary of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists Mahendra Bista told Nepalnews that it is an example of arbitrary use the Ordinance issued by the government and asked all journalists to defy the ordinance issued to curtail press freedom.