Banned BBC film on PM Modi to be screened in US: Amnesty, HRW’s many controversies and biases against India

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the White House, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have set up a screening of a documentary about the prime minister that has been banned in India. The rights groups, announcing that the private screening will be held on 20 June – just days ahead of Modi’s visit hosted by President Joe Biden, have called upon policy-makers, journalists and analysts to attend. The documentary entitled India: the Modi question deals with Modi’s time as chief minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots in which around 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed. Activists claim that toll is at least double. Modi has dismissed allegations that he did not do enough to halt the riots and the Supreme Court-ordered inquiry gave him a clean chit. The government had denounced the “propaganda piece designed to push a discredited narrative” and pulled down the series from various social media platforms, including Twitter and Youtube. This isn’t the first time these rights groups have pushed an anti-India narrative. Let’s take a look at their many controversies and biases against India: Amnesty India, chief penalised for breaching FEMA The Enforcement Directorate in July imposed a penalty of Rs 51.72 crore and Rs 10 crore on  Amnesty India  and its CEO Aakar Patel for contravening the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA). The ED launched an investigation after information came to light that Amnesty International UK had been remitting massive contributions through its Indian entities using the FDI route and thus evading the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). This, despite denial of prior registration or permissions to Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) and other trusts under FCRA by Ministry of Home Affairs. “The show cause notice issued by ED had charged that during the period between November 2013 and June 2018, remittance which was received by AIIPL and claimed as a receipt for Business and Management Consultancy and Public Relation Services for export of services to the foreign beneficiary is nothing but the amount borrowed from overseas remitter, thereby violating the FEMA provisions,” an ED statement mentioned. After getting a detailed reply from AIIPL and following the principle of natural justice, the Adjudicating Authority of ED has held that AIIPL is an umbrella entity under Amnesty International Ltd, UK, which was declared to be set up for the cause of social activities in India. However, the statement said, AIIPL has been involved in many activities which are not relevant to their declared commercial business, and circumventing model has been applied by them to route the foreign funds in the guise of business activities to escape FCRA scrutiny. “All contentions and submission from AIIPL regarding the claim of the remittance towards the export of services to Amnesty International have been dismissed, in the absence of concrete evidence,” it said. Consequently, the statement stated, funds that have arrived to the hands of AIIPL through inward remittances to the tune of Rs 51,72,78,111.87 is nothing but the fund lent by Amnesty International to AIIPL to ensure its objectives in the territorial jurisdiction of India, which is not accordance with the provisions of Regulation 3 of Foreign Exchange Management (borrowing and lending in Foreign Exchange) Regulations, 2000. Accordingly, penalty to the tune of Rs 51.72 crore on AIIPL and Rs 10 crore on Aakar Patel have been imposed under the provisions of FEMA. Don’t shift supply chain to India As per The Tribune, Human Rights Watch in January urged the West not to shift supply chains from China to India.

The reason? Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The group claimed Modi has in many ways ‘mimicked’ China’s repression. The piece noted that while Human Rights Watch criticised the entire neighbourhood as a whole, it chose to sound the alarm only regarding India. The piece said increasing ties with India without pressuring  Modi to respect rights “squanders valuable leverage to protect India’s increasingly endangered civic space’’. The article noted how the language matched that of the US state department including a flawed assessment about the “world’s mobilisation’’ around Russia’s war in Ukraine or the observations about the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh. ‘Lopsided, biased and malicious report’ As per BBC, Amnesty India in 2020 accused the Delhi Police of ‘serious human rights violations’ during the Delhi riots in which 40 people were killed. It accused police of thrashing protesters, torturing detainees and even participating in the riots on the side of the Hindu mobs. The Delhi Police responded by accusing Amnesty India of publishing a ‘lopsided, biased and malicious’ report, as per The Hindu. [caption id=“attachment_8090641” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] File image of security forces patrolling areas of northeast Delhi following riots in the area in February 2020. PTI[/caption] The police pointed to the NGO’s violations of the FCRA and ongoing investigations by the CBI and ED to question whether it is credible. The police added that the riots were quelled in 36 hours and stopped from spreading across the Capital. “All legal procedures and provisions related to arrests are being followed meticulously. Courts have found sufficient evidence to justify judicial custody [of arrested persons],” the police said, adding: “The allegation that those arrested were asked to sign blank papers is without any basis and only a concocted story”. Sedition case against Amnesty for pro-Kashmir freedom slogans In 2016, Amnesty International India faced an FIR in connection with “independence” slogans allegedly being raised by “pro-freedom” Kashmiris who entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing the Indian Army. A panel discussion turned chaotic as some “pro-freedom” Kashmiris, most of whom were youngsters and students, entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing the Indian Army.

The event was organised by Amnesty International India at United Theological College.

ABVP activists, who staged a protest against the event the next day and called it “anti-national”, had also filed a complaint with the police along with a CD containing video recording of the event. Daily O quoted Supreme Court justice Santosh Hegde (retd) as saying the group offered a platform for those backing violence to “free" the Kashmir Valley from “Indian occupation”. It also noted that RK Matoo, the sole dissenting voice at the event, was not given equal opportunity to speak of the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. The piece also noted that while Amnesty claimed to have written to Pakistan over human rights abuses in Balochistan several times, it had not held any major events with Baloch refugees in India. “It applies a wholly different standard to Kashmir, giving an empathetic platform to secessionists while sidelining victims of Pakistan-instigated violence in Kashmir - Pandits, police and soldiers,” the piece contended. Amnesty at the time said it had organised the event as part of a campaign to seek justice for “victims of human rights violations” in Jammu and Kashmir and that towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for ‘azadi’ (freedom). Noting that as a matter of policy it does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination, Amnesty had said it considers that the right to freedom of expression under international human rights law protects the right to peacefully advocate political solutions that do not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. The case was eventually dropped in 2019 after an order from a court, as per BBC. Amnesty’s shady links Daily O noted how Gita Sahgal, the great-niece of Jawaharlal Nehru, left Amnesty after claiming it was too close to a ‘pro-jihadi group’. Sahgal raised concerns about the NGO’s links with former Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg – whom she referred to as ‘Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban’ The piece noted how Amnesty was also alleged to have links with the Muslim Brotherhood and its director of faith and human rights even staying overnight at the home of an advisor to the group. BBC ‘acknowledges’ paying lower taxes than liability The BBC has previously said it stood by its reporting for the documentary, which was not aired in India, and that it “does not have an agenda.”

But the broadcaster has been in controversy in India as well.

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The BBC in earlier in June ‘acknowledged’ it may have paid lower taxes in India than its liability. The broadcasting company is yet to submit revised returns or make a written submission to the I-T department. A report by Hindustan Times said that the BBC has informally acknowledged that it has evaded tax in India. The company is yet to follow the formal procedure for the same, the report quoted two officials aware of the development requesting anonymity. That admission came after the financial crime agency opened an investigation into the broadcaster in April over charges of violations of foreign exchange rules and tax surveys were carried out at BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai in February. A government adviser had said the inspection was not “vindictive.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.