Updated on: September 8, 2026 / 1:51 PM EDT
/ CBS/AFP
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An Oxford University museum has agreed to return the remains of 39 people who were taken during Britain's colonial rule in India.The university's Pitt Rivers Museum says it is preparing to repatriate the remains of 39 people taken from the Naga community in northeast India. The decision came after the university approved a restitution request by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) and other groups.The remains "have been away from their homeland for far too long," museum director Laura Van Broekhoven told CBS News in a statement."Repatriation, for the Nagas, is not simply about bones and ancestral remains finding their way back to the land but importantly about memory returning to where it belongs," the FNR and other Naga organizations said in a statement.According to the museum, the group's request covered 40 sets of human remains; however, the university approved the return of 39 of them in July because one "does not have a clear provenance as Naga."The museum said it was "working closely" with the Naga community to agree on a date for a handover ceremony, which has not yet been set. International transport of ancestral remains requires special approvals and shipping agents, which will take at least two months to arrange, the museum says on its website.The handover ceremony will be held at the museum, according to the website. A Naga delegation will attend the ceremony, then accompany the remains home.
