The Delhi High Court on May 22nd issued a summon to the BBC in a defamation case over a documentary on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that questioned his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.
The documentary, India: The Modi Question, focused on Modi’s leadership as the chief minister of the western state during the 2002 pogrom that killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. Activists put the toll at more than twice that.
Modi has denied all the accusations that say that he did not do enough to stop the pogrom and a Supreme Court-ordered investigation found no evidence to prosecute him.
The court said the suit was filed because the documentary “brings the country into disrepute” and “makes false and defamatory allegations and insinuations” against its prime minister, judiciary and criminal justice system.
The court sought a response from the broadcaster by September 25th.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We are aware of the court proceedings. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
After the release of the BBC documentary the relations between India and Britain deteriorated and a “breach of security” incident happened at the Indian High Commission in March, at a time when both countries were struggling to make progress in free trade talks.
India reacted angrily to the documentary, which was aired in January, calling it a biased “propaganda piece” and blocking clips from being shared on social media.
BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai had been inspected by tax officials in February and the financial crime agency opened an investigation into the broadcaster in April for alleged violations of foreign exchange rules.
