No one above law, says I&B Minister Anurag Thakur on I-T 'survey' at BBC offices

Anurag Thakur. File Photo

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said no one was above the law and the Income Tax department would share details about the survey it had carried out at the offices of BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai.

"No one can be above the law of the country," Thakur told reporters in Kalyan when asked about the Income Tax surveys on the BBC offices in India.
He said the Income Tax Department conducted surveys from time to time wherever there were some irregularities.

"When the surveys are over, it issues a press note or holds a press briefing to share information. I believe that when the I-T Department will complete its survey, it will share details with you," Thakur said.

The Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted survey operations at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

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The UK-based British public broadcaster said that it was "fully cooperating" with the authorities and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible".

Global media watchdogs and human rights bodies on Tuesday criticised the Indian government's income tax survey operations at the BBC's offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, saying the action "smacks of intimidation" and was a "blatant affront" to freedom of expression.

Reacting to the Indian IT department's action, the UK-based British public broadcaster said that it was "fully cooperating" with the authorities and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible".

The New York-based independent non-profit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the Indian government to stop harassing journalists. Its Asia programme coordinator Beh Lih Yi said: "Raiding the BBC's India offices in the wake of a documentary criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi smacks of intimidation".

(With inputs from PTI)