Kathmandu, June 21 -- The arrest of comedian Pranesh Gautam earlier this month for a video, where he disparages a recently released Nepali film, sparked conversations about the declining state of freedom of expression and civil liberties in the country. But it also had an intended effect, bringing to light the sexism, racism, misogyny and homophobia so pervasive in much of the contents produced by social media comedians like Gautam for 'troll' humour pages.

In an interview with the Post, actor Reecha Sharma, one of the few individuals from the film industry to speak out publicly against Gautam's arrest, said that she hopes Meme Nepal, the page that published Gautam's video, would use this opportunity to reflect on the type of content the...