BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai were raided by Indian tax authorities on Tuesday to carry out survey operations. The IT survey comes after BBC broadcasted a documentary on PM Modi in the background of the 2002 riots. According to the income tax department, the survey at the BBC offices is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged tax evasion.
“People had not been allowed to enter or leave the offices,” BBC reported. A few weeks ago a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the ban on the documentary and another PIL to ban BBC, however, SC dismissed the PIL calling the petition “completely misconceived”.
A BBC spokesperson told the media that the organization was “fully cooperating” with authorities. “We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible,” he added.
Critics decried this IT survey as an assault on press freedom, while Modi’s supporters rallied to his defense.
Silencing critics is a sign of weakness, not strength — and it has no place in a democracy, U.S. Senator wrote on Twitter.
Amnesty International tweeted, “These raids are a blatant affront to freedom of expression.” Ex-Amnesty India head Aakar Patel said, “Indian authorities are clearly trying to harass and intimidate the BBC. Overbroad powers of the Income Tax Department are repeatedly being weaponized to silence dissent.”
“Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target critical news outlets before, and must cease harassing BBC employees immediately, in line with the values of freedom that should be espoused in the world’s largest democracy,” said New York-based independent non-profit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
