Indian tax agents raid BBC offices in wake of Modi documentary | Freedom of the Press News

Raids come after Indian government sought to block BBC documentary critical of Modi’s role in 2022 anti-Muslim riots.

Indian tax authorities have raided the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the country in the wake of a documentary that examined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in 2002 anti-Muslim riots, according to the BBC.

In a tweet, the BBC news department’s press office on Tuesday said the tax authorities were “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 statement said.

A source at the company told Al Jazeera that employees’ laptops and mobile phones had been seized. Those in the offices at the time of the raid were not allowed to leave and employees scheduled for night shifts were told not to come in pending further advice, the source said.

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.

— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) February 14, 2023

The Indian government did not immediately release any details on the search.

The raids come weeks after Modi’s government banned a BBC documentary – titled “India: The Modi Question” – that probed his role in the anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in the state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister at the time.

More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in one of the worst incidents of religious violence in independent India. The violence erupted after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire, killing 59.

The documentary, which was not officially made available in India, but was uploaded on several social media platforms and shared widely, also revealed for the first time an unreleased United Kingdom government report that said events had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing”, the documentary showed. The report said Modi was “directly responsible for a climate of impunity” that led to the violence, and that he had ordered senior police officers not to intervene.

But the Indian leader has rejected accusations that he did not do enough to intervene in the riots. He has since been cleared by India’s top court.

Efforts by the government to block the documentary’s spread on YouTube and Twitter have created a political maelstrom for Modi ahead of general elections in 2024.

International rights groups have accused Modi’s government of suppressing free speech and abusing the emergency blocking provision of the country’s controversial Information Technology Rules 2021.

The legal community in India has been divided over whether the specific rule cited by the government, which allows it to block any online news content in the country if it threatens national security, can still be used since several high courts have stayed parts of the legislation.

Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that ordering social media platforms to block the documentary constitutes “an attack on the free press that flagrantly contradicts the country’s stated commitment to democratic ideals”.

India has fallen to 150th place of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, the country’s lowest position ever.

Authorities and university officials have also sought to stop screenings of the documentary, with police in Delhi most recently arresting students who had gathered to watch the film, which tracked Modi’s early years as a politician and his rise through the ranks of the governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

India’s foreign ministry on January 19 said the documentary was “propaganda”.

The BBC has stood by its reporting in the documentary, saying it was “rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards” and contained a wide array of voices and perspectives.

Critics have long accused the party of pursuing a Hindu nationalist agenda that targets and persecutes Muslims, and since Modi came to power in 2014, attacks against Muslims have risen.

Modi’s government has passed discriminatory laws that target Muslims, with many young activists jailed for speaking out against the government’s policies.