Summons come months after tax officers inspected BBC’s workplaces in New Delhi and Mumbai that adopted the ban on the documentary.

An Indian court docket has issued a summons to the BBC in a defamation case over its documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in accordance with experiences within the Indian media.

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued the summons to the British broadcaster for its documentary movie that questioned Modi’s leadership through the 2002 Gujarat riots wherein no less than 1,000 individuals had been killed, most of them Muslims.

Activists put the dying toll at greater than twice that quantity.

Modi was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, the yr he gained the nationwide elections and have become the prime minister.

The defamation swimsuit, filed by a non-profit based mostly in Gujarat, states the documentary – India: The Modi Question – that aired earlier this yr cast a slur on India’s repute and that of its judiciary and the prime minister, the experiences stated.

The summons got here months after Indian tax officials inspected the BBC’s workplaces in New Delhi and Mumbai in February following an offended response by the Indian authorities to the documentary.

The BBC didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, the Reuters information company stated.

Modi has denied accusations that he didn’t do sufficient to cease the riots and a Supreme Court-ordered investigation discovered no proof to prosecute him.

A petition looking for a brand new investigation was dismissed by the Supreme Court final yr.

The authorities known as the documentary, which was banned in India, a biased “propaganda piece” and blocked sharing of any clips from it on social media.

The BBC has beforehand stated it “does not have an agenda” and has stood by its reporting for the documentary.