Oxford University agrees to return stolen 500-year-old bronze idol to India

The Oxford University Museum said that it was alerted on the origins of the ancient statue recently following which it alerted the Indian High Commission.

As per reports, the UK's prestigious Oxford University has agreed to return an ancient idol to India after it came to know about its origin. The 500-year-old bronze idol of a saint is believed to have been stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu India.

The university's Ashmolean Museum statement said, "On 11 March 2024, the Council of the University of Oxford supported a claim from the Indian High Commission for the return of a 16th-century bronze sculpture of Saint Tirumankai Alvar from the Ashmolean Museum. This decision will now be submitted to the Charity Commission for approval."

The statement added that the museum was alerted about the origin of the ancient statue by a researcher in November last year, after which the university alerted the Indian High Commission.

The statue of Saint Tirumankai Alvar is 60cm tall and was acquired by the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford from Sotheby’s auction house in 1967 from the collection of a collector named Dr JR Belmont (1886-1981).

The Indian government made a formal request for the idol and the museum said that it acquired the statue in good faith in 1967.

In the past also, the stolen Indian artefacts were many times restored from the UK to India, most recently in August when a “Navaneetha Krishna” bronze sculpture originating from 17th century Tamil Nadu was restored to India. It was a limestone carved relief sculpture.

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The UK university has proposed amendments to its Statute XI on discipline, which will update and clarify policy on serious sexual misconduct. As per the university, these amendments were proposed after discussing with all stakeholders over many years.

"The proposed changes to Statute XI follow years of consultation involving stakeholders across the collegiate University. They flow from the Education Committee’s decision in Trinity term 2022 that the University should investigate cases of serious misconduct, including sexual misconduct, as a breach of University rules without usually expecting a complaint to be made to the police first, and are intended to update and clarify the University’s responsibilities in this respect," reads the university statement.

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