I-T dept ‘survey’ at BBC India’s workplaces proceed for second straight day

By Online Desk

NEW DELHI: India’s tax officers searched BBC workplaces in India for a second straight day on Wednesday questioning employees concerning the group’s enterprise operations within the nation, some employees members stated.

BBC administration instructed editorial and different employees members to make money working from home after they had been in a position to go away the workplace on Tuesday night time, stated employees who spoke on situation of anonymity as they weren’t licensed to speak to media. The searches got here weeks after the BBC aired a documentary vital of Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the U.Okay.

There was no in a single day break within the search and investigators scanned the desktops of some workers who had been earlier instructed to not use their telephones and maintain them apart, the employees members stated.

Indian revenue tax officers haven’t made any statements because the searches had been launched within the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai workplaces on Tuesday morning. The survey is being carried out to research points associated to worldwide taxation and switch pricing of BBC subsidiary corporations, officers stated on Tuesday.

The tax division had launched the motion on Tuesday on the BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai workplaces together with a minimum of two linked premises as a part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion towards the British broadcaster in India. The tax officers are talking to staffers of the BBC within the finance and another departments at the same time as different staffers and journalists had been allowed to depart Tuesday night time. Some laptop peripherals, copies of digital and paper-based monetary information and cell phones had been cloned as a part of the operation, officers had stated.

Rights teams and opposition politicians denounced the transfer by the Income Tax Department as an try to intimidate the media. India’s News Broadcasters and Digital Association have additionally criticized the revenue tax “surveys” on the BBC workplaces.

Britain’s publicly funded nationwide broadcaster stated it was cooperating totally with authorities and hoped “to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.” Late within the night, the BBC stated officers had been nonetheless on the two workplaces. “Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries,” it stated, including: “Our output and journalism continue as normal.”

ALSO READ | Editors Guild ‘deeply involved’ about I-T survey at BBC workplaces

While there was no British authorities assertion up to now, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated on Tuesday: “We are aware of the search of the BBC offices in Delhi by Indian tax authorities.”

“We support the importance of a free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world. It has strengthened this democracy here in this country. It has strengthened India’s democracy,” Price instructed reporters in Washington.

While the affiliation “maintains that no establishment is above the regulation, it condemns any try to muzzle and intimidate the media and intervene with the free functioning of journalists and media organizations,” it stated in a press release.

Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesperson for Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, stated the BBC ought to don’t have anything to concern if it follows Indian legal guidelines. But he added that the broadcaster’s historical past is “tainted” and “full of hatred” for India and known as it corrupt, with out providing any specifics.

The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” was broadcast within the U.Okay. final month, inspecting the prime minister’s position within the 2002 anti-Muslim riots within the western state of Gujarat, the place he was chief minister on the time. More than 1,000 folks had been killed within the violence.

Modi has denied allegations that authorities underneath his watch allowed and even inspired the bloodshed, and the Supreme Court stated it discovered no proof to prosecute him. Last 12 months, the courtroom dismissed a petition filed by a Muslim sufferer questioning Modi’s exoneration.

The second portion of the two-part documentary examined “the track record of Narendra Modi’s government following his re-election in 2019,” in keeping with the BBC web site.

The program drew an instantaneous backlash from India’s authorities, which invoked emergency powers underneath its info expertise legal guidelines to dam it from being proven within the nation. Local authorities scrambled to cease screenings organized at Indian universities, and social media platforms together with Twitter and YouTube complied with authorities requests to take away hyperlinks to the documentary.

The Supreme Court final week dismissed a plea in search of the imposition of an entire ban on the BBC in India within the wake of the controversial documentary, terming the petition “entirely misconceived” and “absolutely meritless.”

The BBC stated on the time that the documentary was “rigorously researched” and concerned a variety of voices and opinions. “We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series — it declined to respond,” its assertion stated.

India’s Foreign Ministry known as the documentary a “propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative” that lacked objectivity.

Press freedom in India has been on a gentle decline lately. The nation fell eight locations, to 150 out of 180 nations, within the 2022 Press Freedom Index revealed by Reporters Without Borders. Media watchdog teams accuse the Modi authorities of silencing criticism on social media underneath a sweeping web regulation that places digital platforms together with Twitter and Facebook underneath direct authorities oversight.

Some media retailers vital of the federal government have been subjected to tax searches.

Authorities searched the workplaces of the left-leaning web site NewsClick on and unbiased media portal Newslaundry on the identical day in 2021. Tax officers additionally accused the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper of tax evasion in 2021 after it revealed experiences of mass funeral pyres and floating corpses that challenged the federal government’s dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, the federal government’s investigation bureau stated it was probing circumstances of mortgage defaults when it raided the workplaces of New Delhi Television, identified for its liberal slant.

(With inputs from PTI, AP)

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NEW DELHI: India’s tax officers searched BBC workplaces in India for a second straight day on Wednesday questioning employees concerning the group’s enterprise operations within the nation, some employees members stated.

BBC administration instructed editorial and different employees members to make money working from home after they had been in a position to go away the workplace on Tuesday night time, stated employees who spoke on situation of anonymity as they weren’t licensed to speak to media. The searches got here weeks after the BBC aired a documentary vital of Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the U.Okay.

There was no in a single day break within the search and investigators scanned the desktops of some workers who had been earlier instructed to not use their telephones and maintain them apart, the employees members stated.

Indian revenue tax officers haven’t made any statements because the searches had been launched within the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai workplaces on Tuesday morning. The survey is being carried out to research points associated to worldwide taxation and switch pricing of BBC subsidiary corporations, officers stated on Tuesday.

The tax division had launched the motion on Tuesday on the BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai workplaces together with a minimum of two linked premises as a part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion towards the British broadcaster in India. The tax officers are talking to staffers of the BBC within the finance and another departments at the same time as different staffers and journalists had been allowed to depart Tuesday night time. Some laptop peripherals, copies of digital and paper-based monetary information and cell phones had been cloned as a part of the operation, officers had stated.

Rights teams and opposition politicians denounced the transfer by the Income Tax Department as an try to intimidate the media. India’s News Broadcasters and Digital Association have additionally criticized the revenue tax “surveys” on the BBC workplaces.

Britain’s publicly funded nationwide broadcaster stated it was cooperating totally with authorities and hoped “to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.” Late within the night, the BBC stated officers had been nonetheless on the two workplaces. “Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries,” it stated, including: “Our output and journalism continue as normal.”

ALSO READ | Editors Guild ‘deeply involved’ about I-T survey at BBC workplaces

While there was no British authorities assertion up to now, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated on Tuesday: “We are aware of the search of the BBC offices in Delhi by Indian tax authorities.”

“We support the importance of a free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world. It has strengthened this democracy here in this country. It has strengthened India’s democracy,” Price instructed reporters in Washington.

While the affiliation “maintains that no establishment is above the regulation, it condemns any try to muzzle and intimidate the media and intervene with the free functioning of journalists and media organizations,” it stated in a press release.

Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesperson for Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, stated the BBC ought to don’t have anything to concern if it follows Indian legal guidelines. But he added that the broadcaster’s historical past is “tainted” and “full of hatred” for India and known as it corrupt, with out providing any specifics.

The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” was broadcast within the U.Okay. final month, inspecting the prime minister’s position within the 2002 anti-Muslim riots within the western state of Gujarat, the place he was chief minister on the time. More than 1,000 folks had been killed within the violence.

Modi has denied allegations that authorities underneath his watch allowed and even inspired the bloodshed, and the Supreme Court stated it discovered no proof to prosecute him. Last 12 months, the courtroom dismissed a petition filed by a Muslim sufferer questioning Modi’s exoneration.

The second portion of the two-part documentary examined “the track record of Narendra Modi’s government following his re-election in 2019,” in keeping with the BBC web site.

The program drew an instantaneous backlash from India’s authorities, which invoked emergency powers underneath its info expertise legal guidelines to dam it from being proven within the nation. Local authorities scrambled to cease screenings organized at Indian universities, and social media platforms together with Twitter and YouTube complied with authorities requests to take away hyperlinks to the documentary.

The Supreme Court final week dismissed a plea in search of the imposition of an entire ban on the BBC in India within the wake of the controversial documentary, terming the petition “entirely misconceived” and “absolutely meritless.”

The BBC stated on the time that the documentary was “rigorously researched” and concerned a variety of voices and opinions. “We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series — it declined to respond,” its assertion stated.

India’s Foreign Ministry known as the documentary a “propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative” that lacked objectivity.

Press freedom in India has been on a gentle decline lately. The nation fell eight locations, to 150 out of 180 nations, within the 2022 Press Freedom Index revealed by Reporters Without Borders. Media watchdog teams accuse the Modi authorities of silencing criticism on social media underneath a sweeping web regulation that places digital platforms together with Twitter and Facebook underneath direct authorities oversight.

Some media retailers vital of the federal government have been subjected to tax searches.

Authorities searched the workplaces of the left-leaning web site NewsClick on and unbiased media portal Newslaundry on the identical day in 2021. Tax officers additionally accused the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper of tax evasion in 2021 after it revealed experiences of mass funeral pyres and floating corpses that challenged the federal government’s dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, the federal government’s investigation bureau stated it was probing circumstances of mortgage defaults when it raided the workplaces of New Delhi Television, identified for its liberal slant.

(With inputs from PTI, AP)

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