A day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sought a report from Indian ambassador to Norway about authorities there taking custody of a child on a complaint of child abuse against his parents, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that the family has not approached the Indian Government for help so far.
Five-year-old Aryan and his father Anil Kumar are both Norwegian citizens while the mother of the child, Gurvinderjit Kaur, is an Indian passport holder. Officials in the MEA said if the mother approaches the Indian embassy in Oslo, they can possibly try to help.
“The Ministry is fully aware of this issue and our Embassy in Oslo is following up the matter. Our Ambassador has already established contact with the father who is a Norwegian citizen as is the child. The mother, however, is an Indian passport holder. Following the custody of the child by Norway’s Child Welfare Services (CWS), legal proceedings are currently underway regarding the continuation of such custody. We are informed that the father has engaged a Norwegian lawyer to pursue the matter in the court. Given the seriousness of the issue, should we receive a formal representation from the mother, who is an Indian national, our Embassy remains fully prepared to engage with local authorities to impress upon them that this is a humanitarian issue and that the separation of a child from his parents is a matter of distress to the entire family,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Aryan is at present kept in a foster home in another city, away from his parents against whom there is complaint of beating the child.
Meanwhile, the Government has denied reports that more than 150 bodies of Indians are lying in various hospitals and mortuaries in Saudi Arabia. Swarup clarified that at present there are only ten cases that pertain to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Indian Embassy is trying to bring these bodies to India.
According to the MEA on average, there are 3-4 death cases registered every day on account of natural reasons. Most cases are ‘clear’ cases in which, as per the local norms, it takes around 3 weeks to send mortal remains even if the documents are in order. In cases of unnatural death, like suicide, murder and industrial accident, and also in those cases wherein the families doubt the circumstances of death, the investigation procedure is very lengthy, causing delay in completion of documentation/transportation of mortal remains.
In some cases, the families demand release of compensation first, before the dispatch of the mortal remains, whereas compensation is a legal process and takes year. In other cases of delay, DNA samples from the families back home are needed to identify the body and complete the local procedures.
“The Embassy proactively follows all death cases on top priority. In fact, NOCs are issued by the Embassy on 24x7 basis. In the Kafala system (sponsorship) being followed in Saudi Arabia, it is the responsibility of the sponsor to complete the paper-work and dispatch the mortal remains to India. Despite this legal position, the Embassy steps in wherever there are delays in the transportation of mortal remains,” Swarup said.