BBC film on Indian PM Modi, 2002 riots draws government ire

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and KRUTIKA PATHI
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Days after India banned a BBC documentary that examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots, authorities are scrambling to halt screenings of the program in colleges and universities and restricting clips of it on social media. Critics have decried the moves as an assault on press freedom. The two-part documentary “India: The Modi Question” focuses on bloody riots in western Gujarat when Modi was the state’s chief minister. Modi has denied the accusations that he allowed the riots under his watch, and the Supreme Court has said it found no evidence to prosecute him. India has called the documentary “propaganda.”