New Delhi The two NRI children, who were in foster care in Norway after they were separated from their parents on grounds of alleged negligence, returned to India on Tuesday.
Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur was a
t the airport to welcome three- year- old Abhigyan and one- year- old Aishwarya along with their joyous grandparents. The children were accompanied by their Norwegian caregivers.
The two children are expected to arrive in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Abhigyan and Aishwarya, children of Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, had been taken under protective care by Norwegian child welfare services in May last year.
The siblings were given to their uncle, Arunabhash Bhattacharya, by a Norwegian court in the city of Stavanger on Monday, following which the Indian government facilitated their return to India.
The Norwegian courts decision came as a major breather for the Bhattacharya family, which had been trying to get back the custody of the children from their foster parents for nearly a year now.
The Indian government had put in all diplomatic efforts to ensure that the siblings returned to their homeland and grew up in their family environment.
Soon after the children returned to India, External Affairs Minister S. K. Krishna stated that he was ” delighted to welcome” them back home.
” They belong to India. They are Indian nationals,” he said, expressing the confidence that their uncle ” will take care of them in the environment of their extended family in India.” ” All is well that ends well,” he added.
Krishna also thanked the Norwegian government and his counterpart for his ” constructive approach in resolving this humanitarian issue”.
He also congratulated the Norwegian judiciary.
The paternal grandparents of Abhigyan and Aishwarya expressed happiness at the return of the children and lauded the governments efforts in bringing the siblings back home.
Ajay Bhattacharya, the grandfather who was at the New Delhi airport to receive the children, thanked the government for its ” unbelievable help” in getting the children back.
” We had lost all hope of getting the children back. It is all because of the efforts of the government that the children are back. I am so happy and proud. We hope the children will now have a peaceful and a normal childhood when they return to Kolkata,” he said.
Monotosh Chakrabarty, the maternal grandfather, hoped for a settlement of the marital discord between Anurup and Sagarika, the reports of which had earlier put in jeopardy the transfer of the childrens custody.
” Sagarika is happy about their return but is pained that her children are not with her. I sincerely hope that whatever dispute is there between the couple is settled quickly so that the kids can get love and care from both their parents,” he said in Kolkata.
Sagarika, who according to Chakrabarty was at a relatives home in Kolkata, posted a comment on a social networking site after the children landed in the country.
” I do not know how my children are, but always pray to God that they should be well in future,” she wrote, conveying her regards to government and those who stood up to bring the children back.
Speaking to the Indian media from Norway, the childrens father Anurup, however criticised the Norwegian authorities, in particular the child welfare services, for causing the family difficulties.
” Things could have been sorted out in a different way. But they ( Norwegian authorities) did not allow for that to happen. The pressure ( they put) also led to panic and differences between us ( parents).
We cracked under that pressure,” he said.
” The removal of the children was, of course, something pre- decided.
The people ( from child welfare services) who came to our home were not helping us, but pushing us to the brink, to create a situation that would justify the removal of the children,” he charged.
