New Delhi, Apr 20: In a statement late on Tuesday, the Centre said it has not yet conveyed its views to the Supreme Court – “contrary to what is being misrepresented” in the media – about bringing back the Kohinoor diamond from the UK.
“The factual position is that the matter is sub judice at present. A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court that is yet to be admitted,” it said.
The statement, which was issued by the culture ministry after reactions from the BJP and the RSS, said the Solicitor General has not yet conveyed the government’s view.
A day ago, Solitictor General Ranjit Kumar submitted before a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit that Kohinoor was gifted as compensation Maharaja Ranjit Singh had given Kohinoor in the 19th century for help rendered by the British in the Anglo-Sikh war. It was neither stolen nor forcibly taken away, he added.
“The Solicitor General of India informed the Supreme Court about the history of the diamond and gave an oral statement on the basis of the existing references made available by the ASI. Thus, it should be reaffirmed that the government has not yet conveyed its views to the court, contrary to what is being misrepresented. The court granted six weeks on the prayer of the solicitor general to take instructions for making his submission in the matter,” the statement said.
The status report on which the preliminary submission was made by the solicitor general have references to the stand taken by governments earlier that Kohinoor was a gift and cannot be categorized as an object stolen.
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