Orwellian state being created with clampdown on press freedom: Congress on ED case in direction of BBC

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday slammed the Centre after the Enforcement Directorate registered a case in direction of info broadcaster BBC India, alleging that the federal authorities is ready to impose a “dictatorial government” the place there’s “tyranny of the executive.”

The ED has registered a FEMA case in direction of BBC India with allegations of abroad commerce violations, official sources acknowledged Thursday, two months after the Income-Tax division surveyed its office premises.

A deputy managing editor of the data agency has deposed sooner than the corporate.

The ED has generally known as for paperwork and the recording of statements of some agency executives beneath provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the officers acknowledged.

The probe is principally looking at purported abroad direct funding (FDI) violations by the company, they acknowledged.

Asked in regards to the progress at a press conference at AICC headquarters, Congress spokesperson Anshul Avijit acknowledged, “We know the atmosphere that is being created by the Orwellian sort of state here where the freedom of expression and press has completely been clamped down. It is not new, it has been happening, there are changes in laws but far from that there are threats and intimidation so whoever dares criticise this government is actually thrown in jail,” Avijit acknowledged.

He moreover spoke in regards to the incident the place school college students of Delhi University had been suspended for displaying a contemporary BBC documentary on 2002 Gujarat riots.

“This is the kind of state we live in. I really fear the freedom of the press as well. The new IT laws that have come out, they have come under much criticism but nothing deters this government. They are determined to impose a dictatorial government in which the executive rules, so you have the tyranny of the executive,” the Congress chief acknowledged.

On February 14 this yr, the I-T division carried out survey operations on the London-headquartered broadcaster’s locations of labor in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

The survey went on for 3 days.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the chief physique for the I-T division, had then acknowledged the earnings and earnings confirmed by quite a few BBC group entities had been “not commensurate” with the size of their operations in India and so they didn’t pay on positive remittances by its abroad entities.

The BBC, after the tax survey, had acknowledged they’re going to “continue to cooperate with the authorities and hope matters are resolved as soon as possible.”

The movement had led to a sharp political debate with the ruling BJP accusing the BBC of “venomous reporting” whereas the Opposition questioned the timing — weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary ‘India: The Modi Question.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday slammed the Centre after the Enforcement Directorate registered a case in direction of info broadcaster BBC India, alleging that the federal authorities is ready to impose a “dictatorial government” the place there’s “tyranny of the executive.”

The ED has registered a FEMA case in direction of BBC India with allegations of abroad commerce violations, official sources acknowledged Thursday, two months after the Income-Tax division surveyed its office premises.

A deputy managing editor of the data agency has deposed sooner than the corporate.googletag.cmd.push(carry out() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

The ED has generally known as for paperwork and the recording of statements of some agency executives beneath provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the officers acknowledged.

The probe is principally looking at purported abroad direct funding (FDI) violations by the company, they acknowledged.

Asked in regards to the progress at a press conference at AICC headquarters, Congress spokesperson Anshul Avijit acknowledged, “We know the atmosphere that is being created by the Orwellian sort of state here where the freedom of expression and press has completely been clamped down. It is not new, it has been happening, there are changes in laws but far from that there are threats and intimidation so whoever dares criticise this government is actually thrown in jail,” Avijit acknowledged.

He moreover spoke in regards to the incident the place school college students of Delhi University had been suspended for displaying a contemporary BBC documentary on 2002 Gujarat riots.

“This is the kind of state we live in. I really fear the freedom of the press as well. The new IT laws that have come out, they have come under much criticism but nothing deters this government. They are determined to impose a dictatorial government in which the executive rules, so you have the tyranny of the executive,” the Congress chief acknowledged.

On February 14 this yr, the I-T division carried out survey operations on the London-headquartered broadcaster’s locations of labor in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

The survey went on for 3 days.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the chief physique for the I-T division, had then acknowledged the earnings and earnings confirmed by quite a few BBC group entities had been “not commensurate” with the size of their operations in India and so they didn’t pay on positive remittances by its abroad entities.

The BBC, after the tax survey, had acknowledged they’re going to “continue to cooperate with the authorities and hope matters are resolved as soon as possible.”

The movement had led to a sharp political debate with the ruling BJP accusing the BBC of “venomous reporting” whereas the Opposition questioned the timing — weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary ‘India: The Modi Question.