NEW YORK: The New York-based media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists has called upon the Indian authorities to stop harassing journalists after Income Tax officials raided the offices of the British broadcaster BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai.
CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, Beh Lih Yi, in a statement said, raiding the BBC’s India offices in the wake of a documentary criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi smacks of intimidation.
“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,” she said.
“Officials from the Income Tax Department sealed the offices as part of an investigation into alleged international taxation irregularities, according to the BBC. Tax officials told news website NDTV that they were checking account books and that the raids “are not searches.” Multiple reports citing unnamed employees said authorities seized employees’ laptops and mobile phones,” the CPJ said.
Indian tax authorities raided news outlets Newslaundry and Newsclick in 2021 following critical coverage of government policies and Modi’s supporters on the Hindu right wing, the statement said.
It is to mention here that the Indian government ordered YouTube and Twitter to take down links sharing the first episode of the two-part BBC documentary exposing Narendra Modi’s role in 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat when he was chief minister of the state. According to the documentary, Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to the anti-Muslim pogrom.
Meanwhile, Global human rights body, Amnesty International has said the raids by India’s Income Tax department officials on the BBC’s office in New Delhi and Mumbai are an ‘affront to free speech’.
Aakar Patel, Chair of Amnesty International India’s Board, in a statement said, the tax department’s raids, which are being presented as ‘surveys’, come less than a month after the organization released a documentary that openly criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said these raids are a blatant affront to freedom of expression. He said, the Indian authorities are clearly trying to harass and intimidate the BBC over its critical coverage of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The overbroad powers of the Income Tax department are repeatedly being weaponized to silence dissent. Last year, tax officials also raided the offices of a number of NGOs, including Oxfam India. These intimidatory acts, which undermine the right to freedom of expression in India, must end now,” he added.
