Tax Officials Search BBC’s India Offices After Government Blocked Modi Documentary

A police officer and a private security guard ask journalists to leave from the gate of a building housing BBC office in New Delhi on Feb. 14, 2023. Altaf Qadri/AP Photo

India’s income tax officials searched the BBC India offices in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, just weeks after the government blocked the airing of a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The authorities conducted “surveys” on the UK-based broadcaster to probe its “violation of the transfer pricing rules and diversion of profits,” The Indian Express reported, citing government sources.

The BBC said it was fully cooperating with the investigation and hoped to resolve it “as soon as possible.” The broadcaster said its news production in India would continue “as normal” despite the ongoing probe.

“Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiries,” the BBC stated on Twitter.

India’s Income Tax Department did not immediately respond to a query from The Epoch Times.

A survey conducted by the Income Tax Department allows officials to collect any information which it deems useful. The officials can retain any books or documents, Delhi-based senior advocate Tarun Gulati told Reuters.

A survey differs from a search and seizure operation, commonly known as a raid, with the latter being more invasive, Gulati said.

India Blocked BBC Documentary

The survey comes weeks after the BBC aired a two-part documentary titled “India: The Modi Question” in the United Kingdom, which examines Modi’s role during the 2002 Gujarat riots and his rise through the ranks of ruling India.

Modi was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat when it was gripped by communal riots that left more than 1,000 people dead, most of whom were Muslims. He 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 had denied any wrongdoing and in 2013, a panel appointed by the Supreme Court said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

The first episode of the BBC documentary was not aired in India, but its content has been circulated on social media. The Indian government later ordered the blocking of multiple videos of the documentary on YouTube.

Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser at the Ministry of Information, said the ministry issued the directions using “emergency powers” under the country’s information technology rules.

Both YouTube and Twitter complied with the directions, with more than 50 tweets containing links to the YouTube videos being ordered to be removed, Gupta stated on Twitter.

“Accordingly, @BBCWorld ’s vile propaganda was found to be undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India, and having the potential to adversely impact India’s friendly relations with foreign countries as also public order within the country,” he wrote online.

Rights Group Cries Foul

The Editors Guild of India, a nonpartisan association of editorial leaders in India, said it was “deeply concerned” with the income tax surveys at the India offices of the BBC, citing past “surveys” on local news outlets that happened against the backdrop of critical coverage of the government.

The Guild said the surveys represent a “continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organizations that are critical of government policies of the ruling establishment.”

Media personnel report standing outside a building housing a BBC office in New Delhi on Feb. 14, 2023. Altaf Qadri/AP Photo

“This is a trend that undermines constitutional democracy. The Guild demands that great care and sensitivity be shown in all such investigations so as to not undermine the rights of journalists and media organizations,” it said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the BBC documentary ban and the subsequent searches on BBC India offices were part of the government’s “escalating crackdown on civil society groups and media freedom.”

HRW said Modi’s administration has repeatedly targeted journalists, critics of the government, and human rights activists by prosecuting them under counterterrorism and sedition laws and raiding their workplaces and homes on allegations of financial irregularities.

“World leaders, including members of the G20, should press India to meet its pledges in international meetings on human rights, including to protect the right of people to exercise peaceful dissent,” it stated.

Reuters contributed to this report.