Held in Nepal for ‘carrying printouts of USD notes’, Bengal photographer waits for reduction

By PTI

KOLKATA: A visit to Nepal has was a nightmare for a photographer from West Bengal as he ended up in jail for allegedly carrying jpeg picture printouts of USD 100 notes, which he would have “needed there for shooting a short film”.

Alone and helpless in Nepal, Durlav Roy Chowdhury (24), a resident of Salkia in West Bengal’s Howrah district, had been ready for help from India since November.

Speaking to PTI over cellphone from ward quantity 2 of Jhapa Karagaar in Nepal, Roy Chowdhury mentioned that courtroom listening to of his case is scheduled on May 25, and he hoped to get reprieve as “I have not done anything illegal”.

Eshor Raj Poudel, the consul normal of Nepal in Kolkata, when approached by PTI, mentioned he had no details about the case.

“I will explore this and talk to the authorities and the district magistrate of Jhapa. As this is a legal matter, we need to see the evidence. But I can assure that all support would be rendered to the family of the man under trial,” Poudel said.

The photographer, who identifies himself as a contributor of National Geographic on his Linkedin web page, claimed that he was being denied fundamental amenities within the jail.

He additionally mentioned that he was subjected to “torture” for 20 days since his arrest on November 24 earlier than being produced earlier than a courtroom which then despatched him to judicial custody.

“I started my journey last November. At every checkpoint, I had showed security personnel the printouts of the USD bills that I had with me for the shoot. They allowed me to get through. At the Chandragadi Airport, however, authorities sent me to an office and I was subsequently detained,” he maintained.

Roy Chowdhury mentioned he was carrying round 230 items of prop USD notes, which, “in no way, matched with actual currency when forensic tests were conducted”, the report of which he shared with PTI.

“I had planned to throw them in the air and shoot a sequence for my film ‘Money Isn’t Everything’. I had never thought that I would be charged with ‘Mudra Sambandhi Kasoor’ (offence related to currency) for it in Nepal,” he mentioned.

“I have been treated like an animal by Nepalese Police. They didn’t allow me to call my mother in India for weeks or share my ordeal with anyone else. For the first few weeks, I was not given my inhaler. My health deteriorated and only then they showed mercy,” he mentioned.

The 24-year-old additionally rued that language has been a serious barrier.

“I don’t know Nepalese and none of the jail officials speak English. I gave them all details and documents, but they didn’t understand. They made me sign papers that I couldn’t read or understand,” Roy Chowdhury, who misplaced his father in 2015, mentioned.

He claimed that the Indian Embassy in Nepal has been of little assist to him.

“I keep calling the Indian Embassy here every day but the officials there maintain they won’t be able to do much for me. The only thing they helped me with is a lawyer,” the photographer said.

His mom, Tripti Roy Chowdhury, a most cancers affected person, mentioned she had been operating from pillar to put up to safe freedom for his son over the previous few months.

She mentioned that she got here to find out about her son’s imprisonment solely in January.

“I spent days trying to locate him. In January, when I came to know of his ordeal, I was shocked,” the 63-year-old lady, who visited her son in March, mentioned.

She mentioned that her makes an attempt to achieve out to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yielded no outcome so far.

Roy Chowdhury’s mom, who can also be in Nepal at current for the courtroom listening to, mentioned she would enchantment to the choose for the discharge of her son, “who is suffering in jail for no valid reason”.

“I also want plead to the chief minister for help. I’m a cancer patient and have no one to turn to other than my son. I believe the CM will sympathise with my situation,” she added.