The offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India have been raided and searched by the country’s income tax authorities on Tuesday, according to reports.
The searches were carried out in New Delhi and Mumbai, and the timing of them has raised suspicions due to the broadcaster having recently aired a documentary in the UK, that was critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Although the documentary was broadcast in the UK only, the Indian government has attempted to block people sharing India: The Modi Question online, calling it ‘hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage’ with a ‘colonial mind-set’.
The documentary highlights a previously unpublished report, obtained by the BBC from the UK Foreign Office, which raises questions about Modi’s actions during the 2002 riots.
The Foreign Office report claims that Modi was ‘directly responsible’ for the ‘climate of impunity’ that enabled the violence, in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died.
Last month, police in Delhi detained students as they gathered to watch the film, which focused on the Prime Minister’s role in anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 when he was Chief Minister of the state.
The Editors Guild of India, a non-profit group that promotes press freedom, said it was ‘deeply concerned’ about the searches, describing them as a ‘continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organisations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment.’
Amnesty International India’s Board accused authorities of ‘trying to harass and intimidate the BBC over its critical coverage of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party,’ while the general secretary of the opposition Congress party, KC Venugopal, said the search ‘reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism.’
In 2005, the US denied Modi a visa under a law that bars the entry of foreign officials seen to be responsible for ‘severe violations of religious freedom’.
The Prime Minister has long rejected accusations against him and has not apologised for the riots.
In 2013, a Supreme Court panel also said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. The BBC said last month that the Indian government was offered a right to reply to the documentary, but it declined.
The broadcaster said the film was ‘rigorously researched,’ and ‘a wide range of voices, witnesses and experts were approached, and we have featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BJP.’
India’s press freedom has been steadily declining under the Modi government.
The government’s ongoing assault on media freedom takes multiple forms, from the arrest and imprisonment of journalists to the use of intrusive surveillance such as Pegasus spyware against journalists, physical assaults on reporters in the field, and the intimidation of social media intermediaries to delete content the government disapproves of.
Indian journalist Siddique Kappan was released from prison earlier this month, more than two years after his arrest while travelling to report on an alleged rape.
He was arrested in October 2020 in Uttar Pradesh state, where a young Dalit woman had died after she was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men.
The case had sparked protests in India.
Police accused Mr Kappan of conspiring to create law and order trouble and incite violence, which he denied.
Three men who were in the car with him that day were accused of similar offences.
Kappan walked out of the prison in Lucknow city, he said he would continue to fight the charges against him.
Mr Kappan, who is from Kerala state, was working at Malayalam-language news portal Azhimukham when he was arrested on his way to Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh.
After his arrest, he accused the police of physically and mentally torturing him. His family also alleged that authorities did not give him access to his medicines for diabetes.
Mr Kappan’s lawyer told the BBC in 2021 that his client was initially charged with ‘minor bailable offences’.
But two days later, the police added other charges including sedition and provisions under a stringent anti-terror law which critics say makes it almost impossible to get bail.
In July of last year, the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper group and Bharat Samachar regional television network, both known for their criticism of Modi’s handling of the Covid pandemic, were raided by the Income Tax Authority on their offices across six states, similar to the raid on the BBC offices.
Observers believe that the move was a blatant act of intimidation from a government frustrated with the media’s response.
Though the tax authorities stated that they had grounds to believe that the Dainik Bhaskar media group may have evaded taxes, others suggest that it was targeted because of its critical reporting.
The government has also been accused of using the coronavirus pandemic to silence its critics, and journalists who refuse to cower to the government and the ruling party have also been in the line of fire.
Increasing control of the media by big business houses, self-censorship by smaller outfits, and a general fear of religious and political subjects have further imperilled free and fair reporting.
The government has also been accused of filing fake criminal cases against dozens of reporters, including against ‘The Wire’ and its journalists.
There have been numerous bans on television stations on undisclosed national security grounds, the use of official agencies to harass media houses and journalists in the name of ‘economic offences,’ and the unprecedented use of internet blackouts.
In addition to these forms of attack on press freedom, concerns have also been raised about the government’s alleged favouritism and vindictiveness in the allocation of government advertising, a tactic widely used by Indira Gandhi during the emergency.
Activists and NGOs have made accusations of ad-hocism and arbitrariness in the approval process for official accreditation and foreign investment (FDI) in digital media.
The Modi government has also placed a de facto ban on news event-related visits to Kashmir by the international media and has tightened the rules for journalist visas in general.
The Press Council of India has been rendered ineffective by the government’s failure to appoint a chairperson six months after the incumbent retired, the administrative equivalent of Indira Gandhi’s 1976 decision to formally abolish the PCI.
The Modi government has allegedly engaged in the industrial-scale production of fake news, trolling, and harassment of journalists –especially women – by individuals and groups linked to the ruling establishment.
There has also been the introduction of new laws to censor digital news content via the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
The government’s war on journalists relies on the willingness of a section of big media to toe the official line and applaud its actions, as well as the unwillingness of the courts to uphold the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press.
Though there are welcome exceptions, lower courts frequently go along with the abuse of executive power, leaving it to the higher judiciary to provide a remedy.
Unfortunately, the response of the high courts and even the Supreme Court to attacks on press freedom has not been uniform.
Cases pertaining to the freedom of journalists to do their job without the threat of imprisonment hanging over them have not been handled with the firmness and urgency they require.
Under the Modi government, the situation is not much different from the time of the national emergency under Indira Gandhi, with criminalisation of journalism on a scale not seen since 1977 and the use of the IT Rules, 2021 to arrogate the right to delete digital news content, that the government considers objectionable.
The government’s plans to amend the Information Technology Act, 2000 to introduce restrictions on free speech and freedom of the press – that go beyond what the constitution allows the government to impose via statute – have been met with alarm from press freedom advocates.
India ranks 142 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, with global body Reporters Without Borders (RSF) identifying Prime Minister Modi in its list of 37 heads of state or government who are seen as ‘predators of press freedom.’
This decline is indicative of the gravity of the situation and the need for urgent action to safeguard press freedom in India.
India’s press freedom is dying in broad daylight, and the press is under siege, but must find ways to stand its ground, chronicle what is unfolding, and raise its voice in solidarity with every journalist and media house in the firing line.
