The Indian government is seeking to repatriate ancient gem relics linked to the Buddha’s remains after halting their sale at an auction in Hong Kong.
Sotheby’s postponed the sale of the Piprahwa gems, due on Wednesday, after the ministry of culture threatened to take legal action against the auction house in Indian and Hong Kong courts and through international bodies “for violations of cultural heritage laws”.

In a statement, the ministry said it would discuss repatriation of the gems to India with Sotheby’s and the sellers, three descendants of William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial landowner who, in 1898, excavated the gems on his estate in northern India.

In a legal notice issued to Sotheby’s on Monday, India’s ministry of culture told the auction house that the gems should be treated as the sacred body of the Buddha and it would be “participating in continued colonial exploitation” if the sale went ahead.

The letter, posted on the ministry’s social media accounts, added that Peppé’s great-grandson, Chris Peppé, a Los Angeles-based TV director and film editor, lacked the authority to sell the gem relics, which “constitute inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community”.

There has been a growing international outcry against the sale of the gems, which many Buddhists believe are imbued with the presence of the Buddha and should be treated as corporeal remains.

The 334 gems, which were expected to sell for about HK$100m (£9.7m), include amethysts, coral, garnets, pearls, rock crystals, shells and gold, either worked into pendants, beads and other ornaments, or in their natural form.

The gems were originally buried in a dome-shaped funerary monument, called a stupa, in Piprahwa in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, in about 240-200BC, when they were mixed with some of the cremated remains of the Buddha, who died in about 480BC.

The British crown claimed Peppé’s find under the 1878 Indian Treasure Trove Act, with the bones and ash presented to the Buddhist monarch King Chulalongkorn of Siam. Most of the 1,800 gems went to the colonial museum in Kolkata, while Peppé was permitted to retain approximately a fifth of them.

Legal experts told the Guardian that the Indian government could pursue legal action even if the gems were sold.

Sameer Jain, a managing partner at PSL advocates and solicitors, India, said the auction could well be in breach of Indian laws including the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958, and the Indian Treasure Trove Act 1878, as the Indian ministry of culture claimed.

Jain said: “These laws vest the ownership of relics in the government of India, whether or not they were exported during the colonialist period. Any export trade without licence is prohibited. The root question would be whether [the gems] were exported out of India legally and whether the Peppés are even owners of these items. It is arguable that the relics were given to the family only for custody.”

Noor Kadhim, an art lawyer at the legal consultancy Kadhims and an independent consultant in Fieldfisher’s art law department, said India could not sue Sotheby’s under The Hague and the Unesco conventions because it was a private auction house rather than a state museum. She added: “If they wish to use these treaties, the more viable path would be to employ them against China, as the host state for Sotheby’s Hong Kong.”

Conan Cheong, a curator and expert in south-east Asian art, welcomed Sotheby’s decision, saying: “This is a rare chance for the Peppés to finally consult with the Buddhist voices raised in protest of the sale in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, as well as with the Indian government, to find a truly equitable way to share them with all humanity.”

Chris Peppé has been approached for comment. With regards to his rights and those of his two relatives to sell the gems, he previously told the Guardian: “Legally, the ownership is unchallenged.”

In a statement, Sotheby’s said: “In light of the matters raised by the government of India and with the agreement of the consignors, the auction of the Piprahwa gems of the historical Buddha, scheduled for 7 May, has been postponed. This will allow for discussions between the parties and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate.”

(theguardian.com)

The cardinals responsible for electing a new pope are locked inside the Sistine Chapel for the secret ballot.

Black smoke means more voting will take place tomorrow, white means there is a new pope.

Before the doors shut, cardinals took an oath in which they promised to keep secret all matters related to the vote and that whoever is elected will faithfully carry out the role.

They will now have no communication with the outside world until a new pope is elected, meaning the conclave has officially begun.

Because a new pope requires a two-thirds majority, the process can take some time, although the last two conclaves concluded by the end of day two.

To cast their vote, each cardinal casts their vote on a card that says in Latin “I elect as Supreme Pontiff” alongside the name of their chosen candidate.

They walk in order of their seniority to place their cards inside the large silver and gilded urn.

(BBC News)

The government will make it a crime to climb on Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square, it will be announced today.

Offenders could face up to three months in prison and a £1,000 fine for desecrating the monument to Britain’s wartime leader.

The Churchill statue is not officially classified as one of the UK’s war memorials, but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper plans to add it to the list of statues and monuments which it will soon become a criminal offence to climb.

These will include the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, and many other famous structures across Britain commemorating the service of the armed forces in the First and Second World Wars.

The new law is contained in the flagship Crime and Policing Bill currently progressing through Parliament.

Announcing Churchill’s addition to the list of protected memorials, Cooper said: “As the country comes together to celebrate VE Day, it is only right that we ensure Winston Churchill’s statue is treated with the respect it deserves, along with the other sacred war memorials around our country.”

Churchill was said to have personally picked the spot where he wanted his statue to stand when approving plans for the redevelopment of Parliament Square in the 1950s.

The bronze, 12-foot statue of the former prime minister was unveiled in Westminster Square in November 1973 by his widow Clementine, eight years after her husband’s death.

Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother were in attendance at the ceremony.

Giving his backing to the new protection, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Sir Winston Churchill stands at the summit of our country’s greatest heroes, and has been an inspiration to every prime minister that has followed him.

“The justifiable fury that is provoked when people use his statue as a platform for their protests speaks to the deep and enduring love that all decent British people have for Sir Winston.

“It is the least we owe him, and the rest of the greatest generation, to make those acts criminal.”

In recent years, the statue has become a regular target for demonstrators.

In 2014, a man was arrested after spending 48 hours on the statue plinth as part of Occupy Democracy protests in Westminster, but was subsequently acquitted of all charges.

The statue was infamously sprayed with red paint and adorned with a green turf Mohican during May Day protests in 2000, for which the perpetrator received a 30-day jail sentence.

The statue was also daubed with graffiti during Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in 2020, for which an 18-year-old protester was given a £200 fine and told to pay £1,200 in compensation.

During the Black Lives Matter protests earlier that year, the statue was again sprayed with graffiti, and was eventually boarded up and ringed by police officers to protect it from demonstrators.

Most recently, trans rights campaigners who occupied Parliament Square in late April in protest at the Supreme Court decision on the legal definition of a woman, climbed the Churchill statue and waved placards from its plinth, as well as daubing slogans on other statues in the square.

(BBC News)