BBC broadcast: Govt says action will be taken

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that if conditions have been violated there will be appropriate action taken

An upset government on Thursday said necessary action would be taken after BBC ignored its advice and broadcast the controversial interview of Delhi gangrape convict even as it asked video sharing website YouTube to remove the documentary as it is “very sensitive”.

“Yes we had informed all channels that the documentary must not be released. But BBC has broadcast it in London. (Now), whatever action we have to take, the Home Ministry will go ahead and do that,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters here when referred to the airing of the programme last night.

“...We had requested BBC not to telecast the documentary, but BBC said that it is an independent organisation and will go ahead with the telecast,” he added.

Asked what the government could do, Singh said, “I would not like to make any comment at this moment. All I can say is that whatever is required, will be done. If conditions have been violated, if they have been violated, there will be appropriate action.”

To another query, the Minister said, "You keep watching, I have talked to the I&B ministry and have also written to the External Affairs Ministry. Proceedings are taking place." Meanwhile, Communications and IT Ministry told Youtube that the issue is "very sensitive" and it should review its position on the matter, and remove it from the website.

When contacted, a YouTube spokesperson said: "While we believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society and that services like YouTube help people express themselves and share different points of view, we continue to remove content that is illegal or violates our community guidelines, once notified."

It, however, did not confirm whether it has received a notification from the government, which is required to remove the content from its site.

At the time of writing this story, the documentary was still available on YouTube and has gone viral with multiple shares.

Meanwhile, the telecast evoked mixed response from political parties.