BBC cannot hide 'economic offences' under garb of freedom of expression: BJP

The BJP said on Wednesday the BBC or any other organisation cannot hide their economic offences under the garb of freedom of expressionThe British broadcaster is under the IncomeTax department probe for alleged tax avoidance by underreporting income and these are serious offences BJPs information technology department head Amit Malviya saidThe BBC has to abide by Indian laws to operate in the country he saidThe BJP reaction came following the British governments strong defence of the BBC and its editorial freedom in Parliament after the Income Tax departments survey operations on the media corporations New Delhi and Mumbai offices last weekAlso readWestern Railway to operate festival special trains on Bandra TerminusBhavnagar routeThe BBC has said it is fully cooperating with the investigation and hopes to have the situation resolved as soon as possibleMalviya claimed that the international broadcaster has a chequered past and accused it of trying to meddle in the internal affairs of democracies including IndiaHe said that it once showed Russian tanks in Chechnya as Indian tanks in Kashmir to suit its propagandaMalviya said India is the mother of democracy and has a strong judicial system to ensure freedom of expressionThe IT department had said in a statement following the survey that the income and profits disclosed by the organisations units were not commensurate with the scale of operations in IndiaA Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office FCDO junior minister responded to an urgent question raised in the House of Commons in London on Tuesday to say that the government cannot comment on the allegations made by the IT department over an ongoing investigation but stressed that media freedom and freedom of speech are essential elements of robust democraciesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever