India wants to have the largest diamond from Britain’s crown jewels to be returned to them. The Koh-i-Noor was reported to cost around £100M. Businessmen and the Bollywood stars joined together to start the legal proceedings in the High Court of London.
The said diamond was said to be in Queen Mother’s crown which was worn when her husband, King George VI was crowned in 1937. The same crown was also worn during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953.
India claims that the 105-carat diamond, which they translated in English as the “Mountain of Light”, was originally from their country. They said that it was stolen from them by the UK Government and that they want it to be returned.
According to David de Souza of the Indian group Titos, the stone was taken from India during the British colonisation. It was then given to the then Queen. Bhumicka Singh, who was also a part of the group, said that the diamond is not just a 105-carat stone, but it is also par tof their culture and history.
The British lawyers who were instructed to give the stone back, said that they would be filing a case based on the Holocaust Act (Return of Cultural Objects) so that the said stolen art will be returned. Satish Jakhu from Rubric Lois King had even said that they will be bringing the case up to the International Court of Justice.
“Those involved in this ludicrous case should recognise that the British Crown Jewels is precisely the right place for the Koh-i-Noor diamond to reside, in grateful recognition for over three centuries of British involvement in India, which led to the modernisation, development, protection, agrarian advance, linguistic unification and ultimately the democratisation of the sub-continent,” said Andrew Roberts to Mail last Sunday.
