Nothing stops India from seeking Kohinoor: Panel

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, July 24

An MPs’ panel has asked the Ministry of Culture to adopt global precedents and make efforts to ensure that the Kohinoor and other precious historical artefacts are returned to India.

Only 30% antiques documented

• The MPs’ panel report states that only 30 per cent (17 lakh of the 58 lakh) antiques have been documented so far
• Only 19 per cent of heritage objects stolen from ASI-protected sites (91 of 486) have been recovered so far
• The ED has told the parliamentary panel that it is probing heritage thefts valued at Rs 800 crore

The Ministry of Culture had earlier told the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture that there was no legal basis for asking for the return of the Kohinoor diamond from the UK since it was taken away before the 1970 UN Convention (on prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property) came into force. The only recourse was to seek its return through negotiation, the ministry had stated.

The MPs’ panel, however, asserted that there was “nothing to prevent India from seeking the restitution of the Kohinoor and other antiquities stolen, taken or removed in whatsoever manner prior to Independence or prior to the 1970 convention”.

The panel, headed by YSRCP member V Vijayasai Reddy, noted that the UNESCO website mentioned a category of cases of repatriation of cultural properties, where the 1970 convention did not formally apply due to reasons like non-ratification by the states concerned or non-fulfilment of one of the conditions for its application such as non-retroactivity.

“Other solutions are then sought so that the parties concerned can reach a mutually acceptable agreement…,” the panel report, tabled in Parliament today, stated.

The report noted that the UNESCO website listed a number of cases where ancient cultural property had been restituted. Cases of return and restitution under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property included the return of the “Bogazkoy Sphinx” from Germany to Turkey and return of the Makonde Mask from Switzerland to Tanzania.