The UK Government has so far rejected the claims and during his 2013 India visit, Prime Minister David Cameron said it would not be returned.
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The “Koh-i-Noor” is a £100 million diamond which now sits in Britain’s Crown Jewels.
A group of Indian businessmen and actors is preparing to initiate legal proceedings to demand the return of Koh-i-Noor diamond from Queen Elizabeth II to India.
David de Souza, co-founder of the Indian leisure group Titos, who is helping to fund the legal action, said: “The Koh-i-Noor is one of the many artefacts taken from India under dubious circumstances”.
The 105-carat stone, whose name means Mountain of Light was presented to Queen Victoria in 1851 and was first worn in 1902 as part of Queen Alexandra’s crown during her husband King Edward VII’s coronation.It is now kept in the Tower of London and is set in the late Queen Mother’s crown. Occupation did not only rob our people of wealth, it destroyed the country’s soul itself.
After the British colonisation of the Indian state of Punjab in 1849, the British governor-general arranged for it to be presented to Queen Victoria.
Interestingly, the campaign has gained support from Indian-origin Labour party’s lawmaker Keith Vaz, “What a wonderful moment it would be, if when PM Modi finishes his visit, he returns to India with the promise of the diamond’s return”.
Historian Andrew Roberts fought for its right to stay in the United Kingdom, telling the Mail on Sunday: “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”. The disagreement of ownership draws parallels to the case of the Elgin Marbles.
The British lawyers hired by “Mountain of Light” are likely to base their case on the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act, according to which UK’s national institutions have the power to return stolen art.
He added they would argue that the British government had stolen the diamond under the common law doctrine of “trespass to goods”.
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The crown was also placed on the Queen Mother’s coffin during her lying-in-state in 2002.
