[ad_1]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi On Friday he said he was grateful that the US government had decided to return more than 100 Indian artifacts that were “stolen from us”.
During his interaction with members of the American Indian community at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, D.C., Modi said, “I am glad that the US government has decided to return more than 100 Indian artifacts that had been stolen from us. These antiquities may have reached the international market in different ways – some of them Legal and others are illegal. I am grateful to the US government for returning these items.”
Indian Express It reported on March 14, after an investigation in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and UK-based Finance Uncovered, that The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York had at least 77 artifacts in its catalog Associated with imprisoned smuggler Subhash Kapoor. The Met said last month that 16 of these relics had been returned to India.
In the second part of the investigation, published on March 15, Indian Express reported that the Met’s vast Asia collection included no fewer than 94 artifacts of Jammu and Kashmir origin – 81 sculptures, five paintings, five pages of manuscript, two pieces of Kashmir carpet and one page of calligraphy – none of which contained details of their provenance, or background documents , about when they were transferred and by whom.
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said in a response dated June 15 to RTI’s application made by Indian Express That “a mail was received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Ministry of Culture in the month of May 2023. All efforts are being made to recover the artifacts and the matter is in progress.”
A senior ASI official said on Saturday that “The certification of about 120 Indian artifacts in the United States has been completed, and the certification of more is under way. I cannot comment on exactly which ones are coming now and which ones are coming later.”
after few days Indian Express Publish reports on the effects in the Met Catalog, and On March 22, the New York Supreme Court issued a search warrant against the museumwith Judge Felicia Menen giving 10 days for the New York Police Department or any agent from the Department of Homeland Security to confiscate the antiquities and present them to court.
On 30 March, the museum issued a statement that it would “transfer 15 sculptures for return to the Government of India, after learning that the works were illegally removed from India”. It said that “all the works were sold at some point in time by Subhash Kapoor, a dealer who is currently serving a prison sentence in India”.
Museum director Max Hollin issued a statement on May 9, saying “Last month, in light of new provenance information, we brought back 16 works to India, including the Celestial Dancer, a sculpture that has fascinated visitors for decades.” The Met also announced an “extensive review of its collection”.
The Celestial Dancer is an 11th century sandstone statue of ‘Apsara’ from Madhya Pradesh. It is valued at more than a million dollars. The statue was among those with links to Kapoor, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Tamil Nadu.
Antiquities returned are usually handed over to Indian authorities abroad – missions or high commissions – after which MEA reports to the Ministry of Culture, which liaises with the ASI, which is the custodian of these repatriated objects. ASI then sends a team to check and document the objects, after which a decision is made on their physical return to India.
A complaint filed in July 2019 in New York court by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) stated that “the total value of the stolen antiquities known to have been smuggled by Kapoor exceeds $145.71 million”.
Kapoor, described by the US Department of Homeland Security as “one of the world’s most prolific commodity smugglers”, was arrested in Frankfurt on October 30, 2011, and extradited to India in July 2012.
On 1 November 2022, a court in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu state sentenced him to 10 years in prison for burglary and illegal export of idols belonging to Varadharaja Perumal Temple in Kanchipuram. He is currently serving his sentence in Trichy prison. Kapoor is also facing charges in the United States of smuggling idols and artifacts from Asia.
[ad_2]
