External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from the Indian Ambassador in Norway after an Indian couple complained that the Norwegian authorities have taken away their five-year-old son, Aryan, on a frivolous complaint of child abuse.
“I have asked Indian Ambassador in Norway to send me a report,” Sushma tweeted after Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Jolly wrote to her and the Ambassador of Norway in New Delhi about the incident. NRI Anil Kumar Sharma and his wife Gurvinderjit Kaur wrote to Jolly seeking help from the Indian Government in getting back their child. Sharma is the vice-president of Overseas Friends of the BJP in Norway.
According to Sharma, their son is in the custody of the Child Welfare Department, Norway and has been kept in a different city. The child has stopped eating and appears upset in the absence of his parents, Sharma said based on videos of his son shown to him. Sharma claimed that the Norwegian authorities have so far not able to produce any evidence of child abuse against them and still the child was kept away from them. Sharma alleged that his son is going through a lot of mental trauma. “When we inquired about the complainant, it came to our notice that the complaint was registered by a private person. This seems to be a fabricated complaint,” Sharma wrote.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian Embassy officials in Oslo have spoken to Sharma and promised all help. However, Sharma informed the mission that he has hired a lawyer to represent him in the case.
The Norwegian Embassy spokesperson said diplomats in Delhi got to know about the case on Wednesday evening only and they have sought details of the case from authorities in Norway.
This is the third case since 2011 when children have been taken away from their Indian-origin parents by the authorities in Norway on the grounds of abuse. In 2011, a three-year-old and a one-year-old were separated from their parents, prompting the then UPA Government to take up the issue with Norway. The Norwegian court later allowed the children to be reunited with their parents. In December 2012, an Indian couple was jailed on charges of ill treatment of their children, 7 and 2 years. later, they were sent to their grandparents in Hyderabad.