Nepal Cracks Down On Online Abuse Targeting Flood Survivors: PM Balendra Shah

Nepal has stepped up action against online abuse aimed at survivors of last month’s deadly floods. Prime Minister Balendra Shah warned that authorities would “show no leniency” to people who “belittle” those who are suffering.

“People who make unnecessary remarks, belittle those in pain or seek to cause them further suffering at this sensitive time are criminals,” Shah wrote in a Facebook post. Nepali police are tracing where the comments came from to identify addresses and phone numbers.

The crackdown has already led to one arrest. As of September 7, Nepal Police arrested and remanded 24-year-old Birendra Madai of Baitadi under Section 47 of the Electronic Transactions Act, 2063 (2008), for posting derogatory social media remarks and inciting ethnic tension regarding flood victims. The Cyber Bureau has also formed a specialised 10-member investigation team to identify and review more social media profiles accused of harassing and mocking disaster survivors. Authorities informed that legal proceedings and evidence collection are continuing even without formal complaints from victims.

Families Under Fire

Families have turned to social media for help. Some survivors have appealed for information about missing relatives and urged officials to speed up search efforts, only to face hostile replies.

A woman whose brother has been missing since the floods hit two weeks ago had earlier told the BBC that rescue efforts were too slow. “If the government had mobilised experts and equipment for rescue in time, would we have known the condition of our family members sooner?” she said. “We still hope we can find him alive.”

Days later, she wrote back saying she had “received many nasty comments” after criticising the search efforts. “We are already suffering so much and this has only added to our pain,” she said.

In another case, a young woman expressed anger at authorities’ “lack of urgency” in searching for her husband. “My husband is missing now, if the government cannot find him, can it at least show me his body?” she said in a video clip that has gone viral online. The clip drew insults online according to BBC.

Police And Law

Some replies were openly abusive. One comment urged the woman to “jump into the river” and help with the search, while another read, “not everything happens just by you putting the blame on the government”.

Others pushed back. “The victim should be consoled at this time, not cursed,” one response read.

Nepali police said they have convened a 10-member committee to look into the comments. Under the country’s Electronic Transactions Act, those who use social media to defame or harass others could face up to five years in jail and a fine of up to 100,000 rupees ($662; £490), or both.

Why the comments are spreading is also under scrutiny. Dovan Rai, executive director of Body & Data, a Nepal-based non-profit organisation that advocates for a safe digital space, told the BBC that some of the comments may have come from social media users engaged in “rage baiting” — those who produce negative content as a “bait” to trigger outrage, or force people to click on or share their posts.

Rai added that some comments may also have come from “staunch supporters of the government”. “There is also extremism that is very sympathetic to the government and condemns those who question it. That has further polarised the dialogue on social media,” she told the BBC.