Indians Initiate Legal Battle For Kohinoor.

[DailyMail]

From the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3308671/Indians-sue-Queen-return-100m-jewel-crown-Bollywood-stars-businessmen-launch-legal-battle-105-carat-diamond-say-stolen-country.html

It is the extraordinary £100 million diamond worn by the Queen Mother at the Coronation of her husband and then her daughter.

But the Koh-i-Noor, which also dazzled in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, could be stripped from Britain’s Crown Jewels and returned to India.

Bollywood stars and businessmen have united to instruct lawyers to begin legal proceedings in London’s High Court. They are demanding that the Government return the 105-carat diamond, which they say was stolen from its true home.

The move could result in some awkward moments at a lunch the Queen is hosting for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Buckingham Palace this week, although a Royal source said the row was strictly off the agenda.

It also reopens a controversial case in British colonial history and adds to the legend of the Koh- i-Noor, which can be worn only ‘by God or a woman’.

David de Souza, of the Indian leisure group Tito’s, who is helping to fund the fight, said: ‘The Koh- i-Noor is one of the many artefacts taken from India under dubious circumstance.’

He claimed colonisation had stolen wealth and ‘destroyed the country’s psyche’. And Bollywood star Bhumicka Singh added: ‘The Koh-i-Noor is not just a 105-carat stone, but part of our history and culture and should undoubtedly be returned.’

The Government has rejected demands for the return of the oval-shaped stone, which was presented to Queen Victoria in 1851.

Last night historian Andrew Roberts told 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, 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.’

The case has drawn comparisons to that of the Elgin Marbles, the ancient sculptures held at the British Museum that Greece wants returned. However, Mr Roberts said: ‘Britain has an even better case to keep the Koh-i-Noor, acquired as the result of a legally binding treaty, than the Elgin Marbles, which is also watertight.’

The diamond was given to Queen Victoria by the last ruler of the Sikhs, Duleep Singh, after the British annexe of the Punjab. The handing over of such a revered gem is still considered a national humiliation in India.

British lawyers instructed by the ‘Mountain of Light’ group (the translation of Koh-i-Noor) to repatriate it said last night they would base their case on the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act, which gives national institutions in the UK the power to return stolen art.

Satish Jakhu, of Birmingham-based law firm Rubric Lois King, said they would make their claim under the common law doctrine of ‘trespass to goods’, arguing that the Government had stolen the diamond. He added they would also be taking the case to the International Court of Justice.

The latest row adds to seven centuries of blood-soaked history which has seen the gem handed down within dynasties and across countries. Pakistan, India, Iran and even the Taliban in Afghanistan have all laid claim to the stone which was first documented in 1304.

Legend decrees that whoever wears it will become incredibly powerful but that any male owner will meet an unfortunate end.

The then Queen Elizabeth had it crafted into the centrepiece of the crown she wore in 1937 for the Coronation of her husband King George VI. The diamond remains there to this day.

The crown was also placed on the Queen Mother’s coffin during her lying-in-state in 2002.

[DailyMail]

The best place for the Kohinoor is the UK.

It has changed more hands than I've had hot dinners. The last rightful owners are the Sikhs - but if the Kohinoor goes to the Punjab, Badal will go for it!!!

Or else, the Indian State will confiscate it just as they confiscated/destroyed Sikh artefacts in 1984.

[JasSinghKhalsa]

KOHINOOR was owned by Khalsa Sarkaar not INDIA.

When India got independence, princely states heads were taken into confidence with their signatures.

Khalsa Sarkaar last princess - Bamba Sutherland signatory not take, Kohinoor owned by Princess Bamba Sutherland and Sikh Nation, not by INDIA.

[jkvlondon]

KOHINOOR was owned by Khalsa Sarkaar not INDIA.

When India got independence, princely states heads were taken into confidence with their signatures.

Khalsa Sarkaar last princess - Bamba Sutherland signatory not take, Kohinoor owned by Princess Bamba Sutherland and Sikh Nation, not by INDIA.

I propose the sikh nation tell the queen you want to keep it , then pay yearly lease to sikh kaum as what ever maharaja Duleep Singh was during his controlled life he returned to roots on seeing his mother.

[proactive]

A collection of regional and dalit parties have just ripped Modi a new arse*ole in the Bihar elections so this kind of jingoistic nonsense is used to deflect peoples' attention from the real issues.

What the Sikh organisations should be doing is offering help to the defence in this case in order to stop the theft of the Koh-i-noor again this time by the extremist Indian government.

[MisterrSingh]

I'd troll the Indians and support the British on this one, lol.

[Balkaar]

Hah, if these Hindus had an ounce of gray matter between the billion of them, they would relinquish all claims to the Kohinoor diamond out of gratitude to the British.

Let's face it, if not for the seizure of India by the East India Company the Hindus would only have gone on to be conquered either by some Muslims again (for the umpteenth time), or by the Sikh Empire. The Hindu Sarkaar which has given our people no end of trouble exists only because the British Imperialists, whom the Hindus ironically demonize throughout their national mythology, handed them the reins and gave them the power they were too weak and too cowardly to ever acquire for themselves.

[dallysingh101]

What I don't get is the focus on the Kohinoor - there was plenty of highly valuable stuff looted from all over what is now India by the Brits.

[GurburAkal]

Forget about Kohinoor. It is a material object with material value.

We should focus our efforts on all the priceless historical books, documents letters, and even centuries old SGGS saroops that all went missing in Operation Blue Star 1984. That was a much larger part of our history, and now it is missing. We should be asking for those things back instead which were looted from the Sikh Reference Library.

Its just a diamond, it has a pricetag. But that library was a priceless khajana of knowledge and history

[jkvlondon]

Forget about Kohinoor. It is a material object with material value.

We should focus our efforts on all the priceless historical books, documents letters, and even centuries old SGGS saroops that all went missing in Operation Blue Star 1984. That was a much larger part of our history, and now it is missing. We should be asking for those things back instead which were looted from the Sikh Reference Library.

Its just a diamond, it has a pricetag. But that library was a priceless khajana of knowledge and history

I know that eyewitnesses said that three lorryloads were removed but does there exist a full list of what was taken ? Has it been seen in other circles since ?