Kathmandu, Nepal’s Cyber Bureau has formed a 10-member team to investigate social media users accused of posting abusive and hateful comments targeting people affected by last month’s devastating flash floods, according to a media report.
Nepal’s August 26 disaster was triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the border with Tibet, sending a massive surge of water and debris downstream through the Bhotekoshi River, leaving hundreds dead, thousands missing and devastating settlements in northern and central regions of the Himalayan nation.
The Cyber Bureau arrested a man in Kathmandu over comments it said could inflame ethnic tensions in connection with the disaster, the report added. Giri said police could initiate an investigation even without a formal complaint if sufficient evidence was gathered. “Police can collect evidence, investigate such comments and move forward with legal action even when nobody has filed a complaint,” he said.
Families searching for relatives who went missing in the flash floods had turned to social media to seek help, but some of their appeals were met with hostile and demeaning comments, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported on Monday. The online abuse continued despite the warning, with a video posted on Sunday showing a woman holding a young child and appealing for help to locate her husband and other relatives, drawing mocking and insulting comments, The Kathmandu Post reported. Birendra Madai of Baitadi was arrested on Saturday after posting comments about the ethnic identity of people affected by the floods, it said.
