Solving India’s idol theft problem

Context: Article, citing a CAG report, shines a light on the issue of the antiquities being stolen from monuments/sites and from Site Museums in India.

What were the findings of the CAG report?

The 2013 report on “Preservation and Conservation of Monuments and Antiquities”, by the CAG found that 131 antiquities were stolen from monuments/sites and 37 antiquities from Site Museums from 1981 to 2012.

In similar situations, worldwide, organisations took effective steps including

– checking of catalogues of international auction house(s)

– posting news of such theft on websites

– posting information about theft in the International Art Loss Registry

– sending photographs of stolen objects electronically to dealers and auction houses and intimate scholars in the field.

On ASI’s role:

– ASI never participated or collected information on Indian antiquities put on sale at well-known international auction houses viz. Sotheby’s, Christie’s, etc. as there was no explicit provision in the AAT (Antiquities and Art Treasures) Act, 1972 for doing so.

– ASI was also a nodal agency to retrieve stolen or illegally exported art objects. From 1976 to 2001, 19 antiquities had been retrieved by the ASI from foreign countries. But after 2001, the ASI had not been able to achieve any success.

Has the situation improved over the last few years?

Yes.

Around 200-odd idols have been returned by the US, Britain, Canada and Australia. Credit largely goes to increased citizen awareness and to the initiatives & success of the India Pride Project (It is a group of art enthusiasts who uses social media to identify stolen religious artefacts from Indian temples and secure their return)

A stolen Buddha statue has also returned from Italy.

What is the way forward?

India should also sign the 1995 UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.

India can take lessons from global best practices, like those followed by Italy –

a) A specific law on protecting cultural heritage, with enhanced penalties; (b) Centralised management before granting authorisation for archaeological research; (c) Specialisation in cultural heritage for public prosecutors; (d) An inter-ministerial committee for recovery and return of cultural objects; (e) MOUs and bilateral agreements with other countries and international organisations to prevent illegal trafficking; (f) Involvement of private organisations and individuals in protection; (g) A complete inventory of moveable and immoveable cultural heritage, with detailed catalogues; (h) Monitoring and inspection of cultural sites; and (i) Centralised granting of export requests.

Source: This post is based on the article “Solving India’s idol theft problem” published in The Indian Express on 14th Apr 22.