Thaindian News

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) India Wednesday stepped up pressure on Oslo as the uncle of two Indian children, who were taken away by Norwegian Child Welfare Services on grounds of emotional disconnect, heads for Norway to present his “statement of intent” before the authorities to seek their custody.

In separate meetings, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and M. Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, met their Norwegian counterparts and reinforced the urgent need to expedite the solution to the case which has become an ordeal for the parents and an issue in bilateral ties.

The meetings come after External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna spoke to his Norwegian counterpart regarding the case last month and underlined the need for children to be brought up in familiar cultural surroundings.

Ganapathi, who is also permanent under secretary for Norway, raised the issue with his Norwegian counterpart, who is currently in the country for the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.

The urgency of the children to be brought up in a familiar milieu was stressed, external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here.

The spokesperson clarified that no deadline has been set for handing over of the children as there could be some “legal twists and turns” but expressed hope that the case is resolved as expeditious as possible.

The spokesperson added that at the request of the external affairs ministry, Natarajan also met Norway’s Environment and International Development Minister Eric Solheim and pressed for an expeditious resolution of the issue.

Natarajan expressed India’s strong reservations on the issue of custody of two children in Norway, said a statement from her office.

She forcefully reiterated the government’s request that the children be reunited with their family and stressed that the children should not be deprived of their national cultural and linguistic traditions.

The Norwegian authorities assured her that the matter was receiving the full attention of the Norwegian government, said the statement.

The matter was before the court but the Norwegian authorities would do everything possible to ensure that the best interests of the two children are served, Solheim told Natarajan.

An agreement was struck between India and Norway last week under which the parents (Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya) named Anurup’s brother Arunabhash Bhattacharya as the primary caretaker of the two children, Abhigyan (3) and Aishwarya (1).

The agreement was struck between the Indian government through its mission in Norway, the municipality concerned of Norway, the Norwegian Childcare Services, and the parents.

Arunabhash will leave for Norway later Wednesday and will be be in that country Thursday to meet the Norwegian authorities to discuss the procedures of taking charge of children.

The three-year-old Abhigyan and the one-year-old Aishwarya, children of Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, an NRI couple living in Stavanger, Norway, were taken under protective care by Barnevarne (Norwegian Child Welfare Services) in May last year on grounds that they were not looked after properly by their parents.

Barnevarne had placed them in foster parental care as per the directive of the local Norwegian court, mandated under Norwegian laws.

Following appeals for help by parents, India had issued a couple of strong demarches to Norway and made it clear that the decision of the Norwegian Childcare Services to separate two children from their NRI parents was an extreme step and unjustified.