By Krishn Kaushik, Devjyot Ghoshal, Saurabh Sharma and Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – At round 11 a.m. on Feb 14, some 20 Indian tax officers and police burst into the BBC’s places of work in New Delhi, shouting at employees to step away from their computer systems and hand over their cellphones, in keeping with two individuals current.

On the firm’s bureau in India’s monetary capital, Mumbai, tax officers launched a second raid. The federal government stated the BBC had failed to answer repeated requests to make clear its tax affairs associated to the income and remittances from its Indian operations.

The BBC has stated it’s cooperating absolutely with tax authorities and hopes to resolve issues rapidly, including its journalists would proceed to report “with out worry or favour”. It declined to remark for this story.

Three weeks earlier than the raids – which the federal government referred to as a “survey” – the BBC launched a two-part documentary that included an examination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s position in sectarian riots in his house state of Gujarat in 2002 when he was chief minister there. The documentary, which was solely broadcast in Britain, accused Modi of fostering a local weather of impunity that fuelled the violence.

Modi’s authorities has referred to as the documentary “biased” and reflecting a “colonial mindset”. Overseas Minister S. Jaishankar instructed the ANI information company final week it was “politics by one other means” and advised its timing was meant to undermine help for Modi. The BBC has stated it stands by the reporting.

The 72-year-old prime minister enjoys excessive approval scores and is predicted to run for reelection subsequent 12 months for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP).

In late January, Indian authorities ordered the elimination of social media posts sharing the documentary and police detained some Indian college students who tried to display it, saying it will disturb the peace. They have been launched shortly afterwards.

The tax inspections on the BBC’s places of work – throughout which officers cloned the cellphones of some senior employees and searched computer systems, in keeping with the 2 individuals current – have highlighted the considerations of some journalists and media rights watchdogs about what they are saying is a decline in press freedom beneath Modi.

Reuters spoke to eight Indian journalists, trade executives and media analysts who stated that some media which reported critically on the federal government have been focused with inspections by authorities companies, the suspension of state promoting, and the arrest of reporters.

“There’s by no means been a golden age of Indian journalism,” stated Abhinandan Sekhri, chief government of unbiased on-line media group, Newslaundry, whose places of work in New Delhi have been surveyed twice by tax officers in 2021 after vital protection of Modi’s administration. “Nevertheless it has by no means been like it’s now.”

A prison case filed by the tax division towards Sekhri alleging tax evasion and forging a valuation report was thrown out by a decide in Delhi in November. Sekhri has sued the federal government for assaults on his elementary rights and freedom of expression; the case is being heard within the Delhi Excessive courtroom.

Modi’s authorities has vigorously denied the BBC tax inspection – the primary towards a global information organisation in a long time – was a response to the movie.

“The BBC operates beneath two personal corporations in India: like some other overseas firm, they’re open to scrutiny and tax legal guidelines apply to them,” stated Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser to the Ministry of Data and Broadcasting. The BBC had obtained greater than 10 tax notices earlier than the documentary aired, he stated.

Reuters was unable to substantiate this independently. The tax company didn’t reply to request for remark for this story.

Since Modi took workplace in 2014, India has slid from a hundred and fortieth in World Press Freedom Index, an annual rating by non-profit Reporters With out Borders, to a hundred and fiftieth place final 12 months, its lowest ever.

Modi’s authorities rejects the Index’s findings, questioning its methodology, and says India has a vibrant free press.

The world’s most populous democracy with 1.4 billion individuals, India has 1000’s of newspapers and lots of of TV information channels.

Gupta, the advisor to the data ministry, denied any authorities company had focused the media in response to protection, or suspended any promoting. He stated the federal government had said repeatedly that harassment of journalists was unacceptable and towards the regulation.

CHOKING FUNDS

The Editors Guild of India, an trade affiliation, stated the BBC raids have been a part of a pattern of “authorities companies getting used to intimidate and harass information organisations.” It cited 4 related tax inspections towards media in 2021.

In a kind of, the places of work of Dainik Bhaskar, one in every of India’s largest newspapers by circulation, have been raided in July2021 by tax authorities, who alleged it evaded taxes on revenue value 7 billion Indian rupees ($84.47 million). The paper has contested the cost and the case is ongoing.

The newspaper – a part of DB Corp, one in every of India’s largest newspaper teams – had printed a sequence of articles alleging authorities mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and underreported deaths. The federal government has denied errors in its response and undercounting.

A senior Dainik Bhaskar government, who requested to not be recognized due to the sensitivity of the problem, stated the raids adopted an unexplained halt in promoting by the federal authorities and 6 BJP-controlled states from February 2021. The suspension lasted till August 2022 and value the newspaper greater than 1 billion rupees ($12.25 million), he stated.

A spokesman for the newspaper declined to remark. The state governments didn’t reply to requests for remark. Requested concerning the case, Gupta, the senior advisor on the Ministry of Data and Broadcasting, stated the federal government didn’t pull promoting due to vital reporting.

In a report final 12 months, Reporters With out Borders stated that, regardless of excessive readership, many Indian information organisations have been susceptible to financial strain due to their reliance on authorities promoting.

The acquisition of some media teams by billionaires seen as near Modi has additionally led to the silencing of unbiased voices within the Indian press, it stated.

Between 2014 and early December 2022, the federal authorities spent 64.9 billion Indian rupees ($784.34 million) on promoting in print and digital media, it stated in an announcement to parliament on the finish of final 12 months. Nevertheless, the figures confirmed spending has declined in recent times.

Gupta stated there had been complaints after the federal government lowered its promoting spending however that was not an assault on media freedom.

“Authorities doesn’t exist to fund media. We don’t desire a media which is loyal to us or beholden to us due to the cash that we give them,” he stated.

‘CRITICS AS AN ENEMY’

Experiences from worldwide press freedom watchdogs, together with the Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ), say that – along with the monetary pressures on media organizations – the federal and state governments in India have detained an rising variety of journalists for his or her reporting.

At the very least seven journalists remained behind bars in India as of December, the very best quantity in 30 years, in keeping with the CPJ’s annual international tracker launched on Dec 14.

In some cases, reporters have been detained by state governments – which management native police forces – after reporting on minor points.

On March 29, 2022, Ajeet Ojha, a reporter with the Hindi-language newspaper Amar Ujala within the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, wrote a narrative about highschool examination take a look at papers being leaked to college students upfront within the city of Balia. Ojha wrote that an investigation into who leaked the papers was ongoing.

The subsequent day, the 42-year-old reporter was arrested by police and accused of leaking the take a look at papers himself, in keeping with the police report, reviewed by Reuters.

“I spent 27 nights in jail,” Ojha stated, including that he’s nonetheless accused on two counts, although police dropped some prison expenses. Balia police didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Gyanendra Shukla, a veteran reporter who led the marketing campaign for Ojha’s launch, stated the BJP-controlled state authorities seen “critics as an enemy”.

“They’ve forgotten that the work of a journalist is to spotlight issues and criticise the system,” he stated.

The Uttar Pradesh authorities didn’t reply to requests for remark. Gupta, the ministry advisor, stated the arrest was a matter for the state authorities.