Delhi, India - Star News (India) and Channel 4 (UK) have been urged to cooperate "immediately, fully and wholeheartedly" with the Indian authorities in the light of allegations the programmes (on Star News and "Dispatches" on Channel 4) have made about finding corrupt staff associated with Indian call centres. A programme, based on the same alleged criminals - as the ones in the Star News broadcast - is expected to be aired by Channel 4 in the UK on October 5.

The Channel 4 programme is understood to have spent over a year trying to locate security lapses in India's call centre industry.

NASSCOM, the trade body of India's IT software and services industry, has written to Dispatches (Channel 4) saying that their immediate cooperation is vital. NASSCOM had been in correspondence with Channel 4/Dispatches in connection with the broadcast and had requested details of the allegations which Dispatches intends to make together with the evidence/support documentation that they have. Dispatches have refused to provide that information.

Commenting on the situation, NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik said
"Whilst there are a lot of unanswered questions, we take any allegation of a breach in our security extremely seriously. It is vital that Dispatches cooperates immediately so that the perpetrators of any breach can be brought to justice and that lessons can be learnt. NASSCOM will reach out to the Indian police authorities to investigate the claims made in the programme. The media can help by ensuring that there is no further delay in them bringing evidence of their claims to the Indian Police."

"We urge Star News to similarly cooperate and ensure that all information is provided to the Police"

"We are concerned about the verifiability of such stories, especially sting
operations where monetary inducements were provided. These operations
sometimes go beyond uncovering wrongdoing and actually induce criminal activity that is then recorded and aired. In this particular case, one of the alleged criminals has stated that the data he offered for sale was fake. This, and the lack of prompt cooperation by the Producer with enforcement agencies, makes difficult the task of bringing to book the criminals involved," he added.

"Security is a number one priority. India has established an excellent international reputation and under no circumstances, will we allow this to be compromised."

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT :

PARUL GUPTA
New Delhi, Inida
E-Mail : ParulG@text100.co.in