BBC to be banned from filming in protected areas for five years?

New Delhi: The world's oldest national broadcasting organisation, BBC, has recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons following its controversial documentary.

The documentary titled `One World: Killing for Conservation' showcased India's aggressive protection measures at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, claiming that forest guards in the reserve had been given powers to shoot and kill anyone they felt was a threat to rhinos.

Expressing their displeasure over the issue, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has approached the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) seeking a five-year ban on BBC prohibiting the organisation from filming in protected areas accusing them for "distorting" the government's anti-poaching strategy.

The NTCA has also sought revocation of the visas of the journalist who produced the documentary and other crew for an identical period.

The British Broadcasting Corporation, whose South Asia Bureau made the documentary – 'Killing For Conservation', however, said it has not received any notification of a ban by Indian authorities and that such a reaction to a report which was "balanced and impartial" would be "disappointing".

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which functions under the Environment Ministry, in a memorandum said that producer Justin Rowlatt and others committed a "breach of trust" by submitting "false and misleading synopsis" to obtain filming permissions and producing a documentary which shows India's conservation efforts in "poor light".

"External Publicity Division of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is advised to revoke visa of the said journalist and his crew, besides taking appropriate action to prevent their further entry into India for a period of not less than five years.

"Wildlife wing of the Environment Ministry is advised to disallow filming permission to the BBC in any of the protected areas of the country for a period of five years," the office memorandum dated February 27, signed by Vaibhav C Mathur, Assistant Inspector General of Forests (NTCA) said.

However, a BBC spokesperson said the British public broadcaster had not yet received any notification of a ban.

"Any such reaction to a report on an important global issue like the appropriate way to combat poaching would be extremely disappointing. The programme was a balanced and impartial report which covered both the successes achieved through India's conservation policies and the challenges, which include the impact on communities living next to the parks.

"We approached the relevant government authorities to ensure their position was fully reflected but they declined to take part," the spokesperson said.

The documentary examines the government's anti-poaching policy and seeks to find if the communities in the areas near the reserve have been affected.

In an earlier memorandum, the NTCA had suggested "blacklisting" the BBC producer for "grossly erroneous" reporting, while issuing a show cause notice asking the broadcaster as to why permissions granted to it should not be revoked after the documentary termed the government's anti- poaching policy at Kaziranga as one of "shoot-to-kill".

It claimed more poachers were getting killed in the sanctuary by the guards than the animals they poached.

The NTCA said after an explanation was sought from the journalist, he furnished a "vague" reply.

Listing out the violations of terms and conditions, NTCA said that the filming was done after sunset, and the documentary was not screened before a committee of Environment Ministry which would have ensured that wildlife conservation policies of the government were not "distorted".

It said, the BBC and its producer also "dishonoured" the undertaking and deviated from original synopsis submitted to MEA and the NTCA.

"As per provision of section 38 O (K) of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, no filming shall be permitted by the said journalist and the BBC in tiger reserves of India for a period of five years from date of issue of OM," it said.

The NTCA had in its earlier show cause notice also asked the documentary to be removed from online portals with immediate effect and directed the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom to take necessary action.

The NTCA, had earlier said the producer, with "scant" understanding of laws of place, used a "spasmodic" event as an umbrella to judge a gamut of conservation efforts that go into safeguarding the country's wildlife heritage.

"The immunity provided to the forest officials under section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been construed as a 'shoot-to-kill' policy," it had earlier said.

(With PTI inputs)