The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Bara condemned the incident of manhandling and abuse on Ratopati affiliated journalist Sharada Pokhrel by cadres of CPN-UML and supporters of Sunil Gupta, the ward chairperson of ward 7 of Jitpur-Simara Sub-metropolitan city in Bara by issuing a press release on November 7. According to reports, CPN-UML cadres and Gupta's supporters reportedly manhandled and harassed journalist Pokhrel while she was covering news report about the padlocking of the sub-metropolitan city office by Gupta and his supporters on November 6. According to journalist Pokhrel, Gupta's supporters confiscated her mobile phone and verbally abused her threatening to delete the information collected for news report.

FNJ Bara condemned the incident and termed it an interference on the freedom of the press. It also drew the attention of the concerned parties to respect the freedom of the press and not to repeat such incidents.