UK government launches probe into Indian income tax

London: The UK government has strongly defended the BBC and its editorial freedom in Parliament after the Income Tax Department conducted an investigation into the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai for three consecutive days last week. Replying to urgent questions in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the junior secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the government could not comment on the allegations made by the IT department in an “ongoing investigation” but stressed that media freedom and freedom of expression are fundamental elements of a “strong democracy”.

BBC deputy secretary David Rutley noted that Britain had a “wide and deep relationship” with India, which meant it could discuss a wide range of issues in a “constructive way.” “We support the BBC. We fund the BBC. We believe the BBC International Service is vital. We want the BBC to have editorial freedom,” Rutley said.

“It criticises us (the government), it criticises the (opposition) Labour Party and it has freedoms that we believe are very important. That freedom is key and we want to be able to convey its importance to our friends around the world, including the Indian government,” he said.

Informing the House of Commons about the issue, the minister said that India’s IT department conducted a survey at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, which began on February 14 and ended on February 16 after three days.

The minister stressed that the BBC is “operationally and editorially independent” and said the public broadcaster plays an important role, with the FCDO funding services in 12 languages, including four Indian languages: Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Telugu. “It will continue to do so because it is important to ensure that our voice, and the independent voice through the BBC, is heard around the world,” he said.

The pressing issue was raised by Northern Ireland MP Jim Shannon, who called the move a “deliberate act of intimidation following the release of a documentary damaging to the country’s leaders” and heavily criticised the UK government for failing to make a statement on the matter.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, a Sikh Labour MP in the UK, expressed concern that “India, which shares our values ​​of democracy and press freedom, decided to raid the BBC offices after it aired a documentary critical of the Indian prime minister’s actions”. The minister responded: “These issues were certainly raised in these conversations.”

Other Labour MPs pointed out that this was not the first time Indian authorities had conducted such an investigation into “media organisations that are critical of the current government”.

“We need to ensure that our views on media freedom are clearly communicated to other governments. We are in dialogue not only with the Indian government but with the world. We believe that these are very important principles and as I said, they are necessary elements of a strong democracy,” the minister said.

The minister, however, refused to comment on “an ongoing investigation in which the BBC is actively participating”. In a statement issued after the investigation, the IT department said the revenue and profits disclosed by the organisation’s units were “not commensurate with the scale of its operations in India”.