Court orders police not to arrest rapper

KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 3

The Patan High Court today issued an interim order to Nepal Police asking it not to arrest rapper Samir Ghising aka ‘VTEN’ over the content of his songs.

In its order the court has said that police could investigate the singer if he is found indulged in any criminal offense.

VTEN, 23, had moved the court seeking an order against his possible arrest. He was forced to seek legal help after Police Headquarters recently asked Cyber Crime Bureau to begin investigation against him for his new rap song called ‘Paara’, which police said used vulgar words.

Earlier, the cyber bureau had asked him to remove the song from his Youtube channel.

The song also contained derogatory words against the police. Later, the singer had posted a statement on his Facebook account apologising for objectionable lyrics of the song. Fearing that he could be arrested anytime, he moved to the court.

This is not the first the singer has been shrouded in controversy. He had already served time in police custody last year before the Tihar for releasing a rap song called ‘Hami Yestai Ta Honi Bro’ through social media. Police had charged a case of social offense against him. Subsequently, Lalitpur District Administration Office had sent him into seven day police custody stating that the song contained ‘anti-social language.’ Many see police action against VTEN as a step to curtail freedom of expression while others argue that socially objectionable words and lyrics should be discouraged.

Last year, pop-singer Durgesh Thapa was arrested for similar charge while folk singer Pashupati Sharma was forced to remove his song from his Youtube channel for similar reasons.

 

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