Former Supreme Court judge Rohinton Fali Nariman on Thursday criticized the government’s decision to ban the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi and subsequent IT ‘survey’ at the broadcasting branch offices in India.
Speaking at the inaugural Jitendra Desai Memorial Lecture on the topic, ‘Freedom of Speech: Contemporary Challenges’, in Ahmedabad, he termed the decision to ban the documentary as ‘futile’ and IT ‘survey’ as ‘unfortunate’.
He also expressed concerns over the media not criticizing the government as it used to do earlier and the lack of worthy opposition.
BBC documentary banned
Earlier, the central government imposed restrictions on BBC Documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On January 21, directions were issued for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary.
Apart from it, India has denounced the controversial documentary series and described it as a “propaganda piece” that is designed to push a discredited narrative.
IT ‘survey’ at BBC’s Delhi, Mumbai offices
Later, Income Tax officials conducted ‘survey’ operations on the Indian offices of the British public broadcaster BBC in both Delhi and Mumbai.
According to sources, the IT officials verified certain account documents in the finance department of BBC.
During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office have been taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computer kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned.
