The Indian authorities have carried out a series of raids on Tuesday against the offices of the British BBC in the cities of Bombay and New Delhi after the broadcast of a controversial documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose broadcast has been blocked by the government.
Several workers of the channel have indicated that dozens of tax agents have come to the offices to carry out a search and have seized phones and documents of several journalists. They have also cordoned off the area.
Government representatives explained to the media that the searches were part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion in the context of the BBC’s business operations.
The network itself has confirmed these raids and has assured that it is cooperating with the authorities. In a statement, it said it «hopes that the situation will be resolved as soon as possible».
The raids come after the network aired the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, which focuses on the Gujarat riots in 2022, where about a thousand Muslims were killed.
Modi has been accused on several occasions of being complicit in the riots that took place after 59 Hindu pilgrims died in a fire in a train passing through the town of Godhra. This led to severe reprisals lasting several days against the Muslim minority in the region, who were blamed for the incident.
The most conservative estimates put the death toll at just over 1,000, mostly Muslims. There were more than 200 missing and another 2,500 injured. A subsequent commission set up by the Gujarat government said the fire was arson and a court convicted 31 people, all Muslims, of involvement in the burning of the train.
In late January, Indian authorities resorted to «emergency legislation» under technology and information regulations in an attempt to veto the documentary, which has not been broadcast in the country but was initially available for viewing on the Internet.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
