Binaya Jung Basnet has been arrested for threatening Sapana Roka Magar of Myagdi who was included by the BBC in its list of 100 inspiring and influential women for 2020.
Chief of the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu SSP Ashok Singh said Basnet has been arrested from Gongabu, Kathmandu Tuesday evening. "We will bring him to the range and initiate investigation," SSP Singh stated.
An arrest warrant was issued after a police complaint was lodged against Basnet on Sunday. The 18-year-old, who started cremation of unclaimed bodies in coordination with Basnet, filed a misconduct complaint after he threatened over YouTube to publish her nudes. Magar was trying to file the complaint since Friday. SSP Singh said that the police received the complaint and registered it only Sunday owing to public holidays on Friday and Saturday.
Magar and Action for Social Change founder Basnet had started cremation of unclaimed bodies together. Magar, who hails from Myagdi, stayed with Basnet in the Valley. She had returned home in November 2020 leaving Basnet after bitterness between them.
Basnet had recently claimed on a YouTube channel that he has nudes of Magar and threatened to make them public.
Magar was included in the BBC list in November 2020 along with Sarah Gilbert—who headed the Oxford University research for Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, Sanna Marin—who leads Finland's all-female coalition government, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh—who has starred in Hollywood blockbusters like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, Pakistani actress Mahira Khan and US actress Jane Fonda in the list that left one spot blank as a tribute, the BBC said, to countless women around the world who have made sacrifices to help others.
"After becoming homeless for three months, Sapana travelled to Kathmandu where she became involved in an organization that cremates unclaimed bodies," BBC said in its introduction about Magar. "The bodies of those who have died from Covid-19 are strictly managed by the Nepal Army. Sapana’s organization retrieves the abandoned bodies from the street or mortuaries and arranges for them to be taken to hospital for post-mortem examinations. If the body remains unclaimed for 35 days, the organization brings it to the crematorium and performs the Dagbatti rituals, which in Hindi culture are usually performed by the son of the deceased."
