IT knocks at BBC offices; Editors Guild decry witch hunt

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, February 14: On a day which was essentially meant to be a cow hug day, the income tax officials carried out searches at the BBC offices in the national capital. The IT action is being seen as a fallout of the BBC broadcasting a series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his days as Chief Minister of Gujarat, with spotlight on post-Godhra riots in the state.

The Editors Guild of India decried the action of the Income Tax department against the London headquartered multinational broadcasting agency, which has faced the ire of the ruling dispensation in India. “Editors Guild of India is deeply concerned about the Income Tax surveys at the offices of BBC India. As per news reports, BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai were being surveyed by teams from the IT department on Tuesday,” the Guild said in a statement.

The Editors Guild of India underlined that the action of the income tax authorities has come “soon after the release of two documentaries by the BBC, on the 2002 violence in Gujarat and the current status of the minorities in India”. “The documentaries stirred political waters with the government criticising the BBC for wrong and prejudiced reportage on the Gujarat violence, and attempted to ban online access and viewing of the films in India,” the Guild added in the statement, which was issued on behalf of chairperson Seema Mustafa and other officials.

It may be noted that there had been attempts on the parts of the Left affiliated students’ unions on several university campuses to hold group viewing of the documentaries, which had been banned in India by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. “The surveys by the IT department are in continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organisations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment. In September 2021, offices of NewsClick and Newslaundry were similarly surveyed by IT department. In June 2021, there were surveys against Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar. In February 2021, the ED had conducted raids at the office of NewsClick. In each case, the raids and surveys were against the backdrop of critical coverage of the government establishment by the news organisations,” the Editors Guild of India underlined.

The editors’ body also stressed that “This is a trend that undermines constitutional democracy. The Guild demands that great care and sensitivity be shown in all such investigations so as to not undermine the rights of journalists and media organisations”.

Meanwhile, the government officials have claimed that the “Income Tax authorities conducted a survey on the BBC premises in Delhi, in view of its deliberate non-compliance with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits”. “It is pertinent to note that the above exercise conducted by the tax authorities is called survey not search/raid as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act. Such surveys are routinely conducted and are not to be confused to be in the nature of a search/raid,” said a senior official.

The official also claimed that “in the case of the BBC, there has been persistent non-compliance with the abovementioned rules for years. As a result of the same, several notices have been issued to the BBC. However, the BBC has been continuously defiant and non-compliant and has been significantly diverted their profits”. It was also stated that “the key focus of these surveys is to look into manipulation of prices for unauthorised benefits, including tax advantages”.