BBC accused of airing ‘slurs against India’ in Modi documentary

THE BBC has been hit with a lawsuit claiming it “defamed” India as part of an escalating row about a documentary on Narendra Modi, its prime minister.

Delhi’s High Court has issued a summons to BBC executives after hearing claims that the broadcaster had “maliciously defamed India” by airing “slurs” in the programme.

The case has been triggered by a twopart series that was broadcast earlier this year. India: The Modi Question focused on Mr Modi’s role as leader of Gujarat, India’s fifth largest state, during widespread rioting in 2002.

About 1,000 people were killed during the unrest, which was triggered by religious tensions between India’s majority Hindu population and its sizable Muslim minority.

The programme brought to light British government documents produced at the time that claimed the riots had the “hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”. Jack Straw, who was British foreign secretary at the time, told the documentary makers there were “very serious claims that Mr Modi had played a proactive part in pulling back police and in tacitly encouraging the Hindu extremists”.

The BBC said the documentary examined “persistent allegations about the attitude of [Mr Modi’s] government towards India’s Muslim population” as well as his links with a Hindu nationalist organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Allegations that Mr Modi was complicit in an official crackdown on Muslims after the rioting resulted in his being denied a visa to visit the US in 2005.

He was cleared of all charges by India’s supreme court in 2012.

The BBC series has inflamed tensions between the UK and India. India’s foreign ministry has accused the BBC of “bias and lack of objectivity”, as well as claiming the documentary demonstrated a “colonial mindset”. Local authorities banned the series from being broadcast or shared on social media after describing it as a “propaganda piece”.

The defamation case against the BBC is being brought by Gujarat-based charity Justice on Trial.

Harish Salve, an advocate for the charity, told the court that the documentary had “defamed” all of India.

The case, which is understood to be at an early stage, is scheduled to return to court in mid-september. A BBC spokesman said: “We are aware of the court proceedings. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage”.

Earlier this year Indian tax inspectors raided BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai where journalists’ phones were seized.

Local authorities insisted the dayslong searches were not linked to the documentary.

Heightened tensions between the two nations come as British ministers are trying to negotiate a free trade deal with their Indian counterparts.