31 antiquities stolen from centrally-protected monuments, temples under ASI in last 10 years: Govt

By PTI
NEW DELHI: Thirty-one antiquities have been stolen from centrally-protected monuments and temples under the Archaeological Survey of India in the last 10 years, the government informed Parliament on Monday, but added four of them have been recovered.

Union Minister for Culture G Kishan Reddy said this in a written response to a query in Lok Sabha.

A total of 31 antiquities have been stolen from centrally-protected monuments, sites, temple etc under the ASI during 2013-2023 of which 27 are still to be recovered, he said.

“However, no information is available about their illegal shipping abroad,” he said.

The government is committed to bring back the antiquities of Indian-origin which were taken away from India.

Whenever any such antiquity surfaces abroad, the ASI takes up the matter with the Indian embassies or missions through the MEA for their retrieval, the minister said in his response.

“The Archaeological Survey of India has retrieved 251 antiquities from foreign countries from the year 1976 to 2023, of which 238 have been retrieved from 2014 to 2023,” he added.

In a separate response to another query, the Union minister shared country-wise and year-wise data on the return on 238 antiquities to India since 2014.

In 2021, as many as 157 antiquities were returned from the US, and in 2022, as many as 29 items from Australia, according to data shared in his response. The ASI is committed towards the protection of monuments, sites and antiquities under its jurisdiction, the government said.

“Besides regular watch and ward staff of the ASI, private security guards, state police armed guards, and Central Industrial Security Force have been deployed as per requirement. Whenever any theft of antiquity is reported, FIR is lodged in concerned police station and ‘Look Out Notice’ is issued to law enforcement agencies including Custom Exit Channels to keep a vigil to trace stolen antiquity and prevent its illegal export,” the minister said.

Of the 31 antiquities that have been stolen from centrally-protected monuments and temples, the highest number of 14 were from sites in Karnataka out of which one has been recovered, according to data shared by the minister.

Four objects each were stolen from sites in Bihar and Odisha, and are yet to be recovered, he said.