Guarding Bharat Mata's Legacy: Law Reform, Museum Security And The Repatriation Of India's Stolen Antiquities
Suryabhan Sangram Ingle, Government Law College, Mumbai
Aashish Sanjay Kulkarni, MES's Law College, Pune
Chinmay Santosh Joshi, DES's Fergusson College (Autonomous), Pune
ABSTRACT
Bharat holds one of the world's largest bodies of tangible cultural heritage, spread across roughly 3,700 centrally protected monuments, thousands of temples and palaces, and over a thousand museums. The principal statute meant to protect this inheritance, the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, has not been substantively amended in nearly five decades, even as theft, smuggling, and institutional neglect have persisted. This article, prepared as a joint submission, examines what the 1972 Act does and does not achieve, drawing on Comptroller and Auditor General audits and credible investigative reporting to document ground-level security and conservation failures at sites including Kolhapur's Town Hall Museum, the Laxmi Vilas Palace complex in Vadodara, the National Museum in New Delhi, and temples across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It then reviews India's rapidly improving repatriation record, now exceeding six hundred antiquities since 2014, and identifies iconic objects, such as the Kohinoor diamond and the Amaravati Marbles, that remain abroad. The article closes with a detailed, practical blueprint for legislative, administrative, and citizen- led reform, framed throughout as an obligation India owes to Bharat Mata and to future generations who will inherit only what this generation chooses to protect.
