Suresh Rajak, a senior video journalist and head of the camera division at news channel Avenues Television, died in a fire on March 28, 2025, while covering a violent pro-monarchy protest in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
Rajak entered a building in the Tinkune neighborhood with colleagues and was livestreaming footage of the protest when protestors set fire to the building’s first floor, allegedly in response to police firing tear gas at demonstrators from its upper floors.
Rajak lost contact with his team and the Avenues Television studio, and despite pleas from fellow journalists, police on the scene allegedly refused to search the building or dispatch a fire truck, claiming no one was inside.
Rajak’s colleagues, Paras Shrestha and Anil Rayamajhi, escaped without injury. A body burned beyond recognition, but believed to be Rajak, was later recovered from the fourth floor.
CPJ’s letter and text messages to a spokesperson of the Nepal Police did not receive a reply.
The mass demonstrations called for the restoration of the Hindu monarchy and turned violent, with reports of another person killed and over 110 injured, alongside attacks on media outlets such as Kantipur TV and The Annapurna Media Network.
“Despite widespread outrage, no concrete action has been taken against those responsible, further delaying justice for Rajak and his family,” Laxman Datt Pant, founder and executive director of the press freedom advocacy organization Media Action Nepal, told CPJ. “The case has sparked nationwide outrage among journalists, unions, and media rights organizations, who warn that such inaction risks undermining the critical watchdog role of the press and could push journalists toward self-censorship.”