Urban Dictionary website Banned in Nepal

It is a really surprising move by Nepal government – to ban websites in order to “reduce crime.” According to a latest report, educational sites are being banned under the directive of Nepal Government. One of the most surprising ban is the blockage of a dictionary site:

(photo credit – @l0stanzel)

According to an English Daily, ‘The Kathmandu Post’ article, banning sites is a desperate attempt of the government after its, “failure to provide justice to 13-year-old Nirmala Pant despite such social outcry, this banning of porn is merely a liar’s paradox.”

It says, “the blame on pornography instead of accepting its own incompetence and the failure of its justice system is only a veil the government is using to not address many severe underling issues.” (Kathmandu post)

The article says, “Similarly, various studies done among diverse human civilisations has failed to find any precise correlation between digital erotic content and real world sexual violence against women. As the argument goes, much research evidence has revealed that porn actually functions as a ‘safety valve’ for otherwise violent instinct.”

This is not the fist time Nepal government had tried banning websites. In 2010 I did an analysis of sites blocked in Nepal: (read the report)

At that time sites like Huffington post and Blogspot blogs were blocked in Nepal. I had argued at that time that the banning won’t work for some 5 different reasons (read the 5 reasons).

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‘Badhshala’ banned by army, March 8 protested as Black Friday

Nepali movie ‘Badhshala’ has been banned in Nepal and it is a new record in Nepali movie industry. This is the first time a movie is banned even before it is reviewed by the film reviewing body of the government, Nepal Censor Board.

A protest program was organized in Mandala Theater, Kathmandu to protest against the government of banning a work of art. The artists and supporters were carrying protest slogans. Notable personalities present in the protest were director Yadav Kharel, comedy artist Manoj Gajurel, Manoj KC, and Reema Bishowkarma.

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