by Deepak Shimkhada, Ph.D.
The recent incident reported in e-Kantipur about the arrest of Sangita Thapa, owner of Siddhartha Art Gallery, and Manish Harijan, the artist who exhibited his works at the gallery that offended a certain segment of Nepali society is quite disturbing to say the least. The incident that resulted in the arrest of two individuals is sketchy at best. While I await more details to come out about the incident, I take the liberty to comment about it. First, I condemn such arrests and death threats to the artist categorically. This should not have happened in a civil and democratic society. There should be freedom of expression. The civil struggle that resulted in de-throneing the monarchy not long ago has little meaning if the current government applies strict censorship to enforce moral standards on the works of artists and writers. Continue reading →