BBC says its staff stayed overnight as office surveyed by India’s income tax department
Tax officials are copying data from electronic gadgets as part of their task of collecting evidence on BBC’s financial transactions
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Your support makes all the difference.Indian tax officials continue to conduct raids at the BBC offices in Mumbai and New Delhi for the third consecutive day on Thursday.
In a statement to The Independent, a BBC spokesperson confirmed that officials were present at the offices.
“The Income Tax Authorities remain at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. The authorities and some World Service and BBC Studios staff stayed at the offices overnight on 14th Feb,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that staff are free to go in and out of the office as needed.
“We are cooperating with the ongoing enquiries and 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,” BBC said.
The action comes weeks after the BBC aired a two-part documentary investigating prime minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, while he was the state’s chief minister.
The film titled “India: The Modi Question” was broadcast only in the UK, but India’s government acted to block it from being seen elsewhere, invoking emergency powers under information and technology laws and ordering social media companies to remove clips of the documentary.
The federal government termed the documentary a “propaganda piece” while the BBC defended its work and said that its film adhered to the “highest editorial standards.”
On Wednesday, the BBC spokesperson said that despite the ongoing action, the broadcaster will continue to report independently.
“The BBC reports independently and without fear or favour. We stand by our journalists and continue to report this story editorially, in an impartial manner.”
According to the Indian government, the raids, which are being described as “surveys”, are not related to the documentary but are instead a fallout of non-compliance of notices.
Kanchan Gupta, an adviser to the federal ministry for Information and Broadcasting Ministry, said that the action has been taken following due process of law.
“Whether you are a media organisation or you are a manufacturer, the purpose of tax laws apply equally to everybody. And if you are found in violation of those tax laws, the appropriate action is taken as the due process of law,” he said in an interview with Mirror Now television news channel on Wednesday night.
Appearing on the network’s sister channel Times Now, Mr Gupta said that the BBC was served tax notices in the past but had not provided a “convincing response”.
Tax officials said to news agency Press Trust of India that the survey teams are seeking answers on financial transactions, the company structure and other details about the news company, and are copying data from electronic gadgets as part of their task of collecting the evidence.
They added that the exercise will continue and that the “exact time frame to call the operation closed rests entirely on the teams on the ground”.
Earlier on Tuesday, officials said that the action is being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies.
As outrage has grown from domestic and global media watchdogs as well as the opposition parties in India, the country’s vice president Jagdeep Dhankar on Wednesday said that “sinister” designs are underway to set a narrative against the government.
Addressing Indian Information Service officers the vice president said: “India is on the rise, but sinister designs are there, to set afloat a narrative against us.
“This is another way of invasion. We have to be alert.
“We have to boldly neutralize it.”
Last year, Mr Modi received a clean chit from India’s Supreme Court as it dismissed a plea challenging the findings of a Special Investigation Report on the 2002 Gujarat riots which had cleared him and 62 other senior government officials.
The action on the BBC comes as India has dropped eight places to 150 out of 180 countries, in the 2022 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.
India’s Supreme Court last week dismissed a petition seeking a complete ban on the BBC.
The court said it cannot impose “censorship” and termed the petition “entirely misconceived” and “absolutely meritless”.
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