London

A human skull that was for auction in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, was withdrawn hours before the bidding was to begin. The "19th-century horned Naga human skull" originates from the Indian northeastern state of Nagaland. The auction of the skull had created a stir among the tribal community.

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The Swan Fine Art auction house in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, had listed more than 20 items involving human remains for a one-day sale on Wednesday. 

The auction house was facing backlash for putting the horned skull up for auction. The Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) had registered displeasure over it being put up for sale, calling it a dehumanising practice where Indigenous ancestral remains are sold for “curious collectors”.

Nagaland’s chief minister also took note of the matter and urged the Indian government to intervene and get it stopped. 

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"The auction highlights the impunity that descendants of European colonisers enjoy as they perpetuate a racist, colonial, and violent depiction of Naga people," the FNR said in a statement.

The collection was titled "The Curious Collector Sale".

A guide price of $4,581 (Rs 384,000) to $5,235 (Rs 439,000) was assigned to the horned skull. 

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Anger among Indigenous communities

Repatriation of ancestral human remains by former colonial nations has become a major topic among Indigenous communities worldwide. Experts are flabbergasted to see that human remains are being sold. 

"Can you imagine: in the 21st century there are bans on the sale of birds and animals and reptiles...but not a ban on human remains," Dr Dolly Kikon, a Naga anthropologist and professor at the University of California, told The Independent.

Notably, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio wrote to Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, asking him to raise the matter with the British High Commission in New Delhi.

Rio wrote that "the human remains of any deceased person belong to those people and their land", further stressing that the sale was an act of "continued colonial violence". 

The FNR wants repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains to be made "a priority". The auction house also withdrew other items involving human remains from the Indigenous communities of Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, Congo and Malawi.