BBC office survey: The British government is closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India, sources said on Tuesday. BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai are being searched by the Income Tax Department as part of a tax evasion investigation, officials 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," the BBC said on Twitter.
The development has come after the BBC released a two-part documentary on PM Modi a couple of weeks ago on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India.
The searches are expected to continue through the night as some officials of the media company have been asked to stay to assist the probing teams, reports said.
“The Income Tax Authorities remain at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. Many staff have now left the building, but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiries,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India,” the spokesperson said.
India slammed BBC for its propaganda documentary
Slamming the BBC documentary which was released last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, "...the bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible."
UK Govt distances itself from BBC documentary
“We recognise how this portrayal of the Indian government has played out in India. I made it clear that the BBC is independent in its output, that the UK regards India as an incredibly important international partner and that we will be investing heavily in that relationship in the coming decades,” UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said earlier this month.
Meanwhile, reacting to the I-T raids at BBC offices today, Dr Mukulika Banerjee, a leading author and academic at the London School of Economics (LSE) said, “Everyone's shocked and no one is fooled that today's tax survey, as it's being called, is a retaliation to the recent BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’”.
“The BBC is an independent public broadcaster so if it puts out a documentary, it is not acting at the behest of the British government. In fact, BBC journalists routinely grill the British PM and all elected officials holding them accountable for their actions. The word ‘independent’ means just that,” she said.
“The Indian government has appointed India as the ‘Mother of Democracy’ during its year of the G20 Presidency and plastered posters across every inch of the country proclaiming that. It should know then that one of the basic principles of being a democracy is to recognise that press freedom is an essential central pillar of a functioning democracy. They really need to understand that this is what press freedom looks like. And stop its shameful harassment of the BBC in Delhi and Mumbai,” she added.
“In the wake of the government's ban on sharing extracts or screening the documentary, this raid makes it clear that the Modi government will attack all those who criticise Narendra Modi, the BJP and those close to them,” said Mukti Shah, spokesperson for the group.
(With inputs from PTI)
ALSO READ | BBC says 'fully cooperating' with income tax dept after its Mumbai, Delhi offices come under scanner
ALSO READ | BBC India office searches: Int'l media watchdogs term act as 'blatant affront' to freedom of expression
