India tax officers search BBC offices after critical documentary

[February 14, 2023]  By Krishna N. Das and Kylie MacLellan

NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) - Indian tax officers searched the BBC's bureaus in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, the British broadcaster said, weeks after the government came down hard against a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in 2002 riots.

The documentary focused on the Hindu nationalist politician's leadership as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat during the riots in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, though activists put the toll at more than twice that number.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the BBC said in a statement.

An Income Tax Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a "credible survey operation was ongoing" and that the department would not be able to share details. The department did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Britain’s Foreign Office said it was closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the BBC’s offices. Media rights advocates and India's opposition condemned the searches.

One of two sources in the BBC's New Delhi office told Reuters that tax officials were speaking with the accounts officer and no one was allowed to leave.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Indian institutions worked independently and the tax department was "within the law in looking into tax compliance".

"India is a vibrant democracy where no one is above the law," BJP spokesman Gopal Krishna Agarwal said.

The government has dismissed the BBC documentary as propaganda. The foreign ministry in January said it was meant to push a "discredited narrative", was biased, lacked objectivity and showed a "continuing colonial mindset".

The BBC has stood by its reporting for the documentary.

CONDEMNATION

While the search was in progress, television news crews set up outside the office near Connaught Place in central Delhi to report developments.

The Editors Guild of India, which calls itself a non-partisan association of editorial leaders, said it was deeply concerned by the visits by the tax officers.

Members of media and people stand outside a building having BBC offices, where income tax officials are conducting a search, in New Delhi, India, February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

It said it was "distressed by the continuing trend of government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organisations that are critical of the ruling establishment".

It said the department also searched the offices of media outlets NewsClick, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar in 2021 after their "critical coverage" of the government.

The Asia desk of the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Twitter that "authorities must not harass journalists doing their jobs".

The main opposition Congress party condemned the tax department's action.

"The IT raid at BBC’s offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism," lawmaker and Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal wrote on Twitter.

"We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer."

Last month police in Delhi detained students as they gathered to watch the documentary after their university declined to give permission for a screening of it.

The documentary covers events from February 2002, when a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Gujarat, setting off one of independent India’s worst outbreaks of communal violence.

Modi ruled Gujarat for more than a decade before becoming prime minister in 2014.

His career has been dogged by accusations that he did not do enough to stop the rioting in 2002. Modi has always denied any wrongdoing and in 2013 a panel appointed by the Supreme Court said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain, Mohi Narayan, Kylie MacLellan, Manoj Kumar and Nikunj Ohri; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Kim Coghill, Simon Cameron-Moore, David Goodman and Alison Williams)

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