First modification:
According to Indian tax authorities, the inspection is linked to repeated tax offences, but the timing is suspicious. This occurs a few weeks after the broadcast of a documentary on the alleged role of the Prime Minister in the anti-Muslim attacks of 2002 and his policy of repression of this minority since he came to power.
With Sébastien Farcis, RFI correspondent in New Delhi
Indian tax authorities have accused the BBC of “repeated and deliberate” tax evasion. The objective of this surprise registry is to check the company’s accounts, but without the right to seize them.
The government claims the move is unrelated to the channel’s editorial coverage, but comes just weeks after the premiere of an explosive documentary on the current government’s Hindu politics. The film angered the authorities, who banned its webcast in India.
For the spokesman for the ruling BJP, Gaurav Bhatia, the BBC must therefore be held accountable. “India is a country that offers opportunities to any organization, as long as it respects the Constitution, has no hidden motives and the stories it broadcasts are based on facts. But the BBC’s coverage is superficial and poisonous,” he said.
“If one has been following the law of a country, if one has nothing to hide, then why be afraid of an action, which is in line with the law?” he said.
The British public broadcaster BBC said that it “cooperates fully” with the Indian tax authorities.
“We hope this situation will be resolved as soon as possible,” the audiovisual group’s press service said on Twitter, confirming the records at its offices in India.
A trend that “undermines Indian democracy”
In the past two years, there have been several similar raids on the premises of various media outlets critical of the government. The Publishers Guild of India has now reacted, stating that this “trend undermines Indian democracy”.
Since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014, India has fallen ten places in the global press freedom index carried out by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), to 150th place out of a total of 180 countries evaluated.
The 2002 riots in Gujarat, in the east of the country, began after the death of 59 Hindu pilgrims in a train fire. Following the tragedy, 31 Muslims were sentenced for the incident.
The BBC documentary cites a declassified British Foreign Office report in which anonymous sources say Modi met with senior police officers and “ordered them not to intervene” in attacks on Muslims by Hindu nationalist groups.
