Activists called on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take more interest in child custody cases in the West, as the launch of the film Mrs Chatterjee v Norway, which focuses on the diplomatic dispute between India and Norway in 2011, sheds light on such cases Highlight where parents lose custody of their children due to cultural differences in raising their children. The film also has a parallel to the ongoing controversy involving a child in Germany.
The film released nationwide on Friday, even as the Norwegian Embassy in Delhi called it a “work of fiction”, and defended the Norwegian Child Welfare Services.
The case involved the seizure of two young children by authorities from an Indian couple living in Norway, alleging that the parents, Abhiroop and Sagarika Chatterjee (played by Rani Mukerji) were forced to take care of them. were “disqualified”. After several diplomatic protests by India, the children were returned to India by the Norwegian authorities and placed with other family members in 2012.
“Words cannot describe what I had to do to get my kids back. The film can show only 20% of the trauma that we had to endure,” Ms Sagarika, who has now reverted to her maiden name of Chakraborty, told Hindu Ahead of the screening of the film at a theater in the national capital.
In a detailed statement, the Norwegian Embassy in Delhi denied the allegations, saying that the children were not taken away from their parents because of “cultural differences”, or that welfare officers were taking the children away to make “profit”. confiscated, and the government was bound by secrecy laws to give specific details of the case.
The statement issued in Delhi said, “The matter being referred to was resolved a decade ago with the cooperation of the Indian authorities and with the agreement of all parties.” “In Norway, we value and respect various family systems and cultural practices, even if these are different to what we are accustomed to – apart from corporal punishment in parenting. Will not be tolerated.
The film is based on a book written by Ms. Sagarika, journey of a mother, shows how Norwegian child protection services object to hand-feeding of children, comparing it to forced feeding. He also had a problem with children sharing a bed with their parents, which is quite common in Indian households. He also accused Ms. Sagarika of slapping her child, as well as the children not having enough space to play in the house and having “unsuitable” clothes and toys.
Ms Sagarika said on Friday that it was Child Protection Services that created the issues which were later exacerbated by her in-laws’ attitude.
The film also highlights a similar case of Ariha Shah, the two-year-old daughter of an Ahmedabad couple who was taken into childcare custody in September 2021 by German authorities, alleging she was abused at home , an allegation her father and mother, Bhavesh and Dhara Shah deny. Foreign Minister S. Despite Jaishankar taking up the matter with German Foreign Minister Annalena Bierbock in December 2022 and officials discussing the issue during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Delhi last month, there has been no progress in the matter. The Berlin Childcare Services proposed that the parent who lost custody of her at the age of six months permanently lose her parental rights.
“Both [Indian] The Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been in close contact with the parents and the German authorities to find a way forward. There are serious privacy issues and we can’t say anything further than that.
In a videotaped appeal last month, the couple said they could not leave Germany without their daughter, and were concerned that she was growing up without speaking her mother tongue or being given a traditional vegetarian diet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Case of appeal to adopt it from.
According to former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who was present at the screening of the film on Friday, many Indian families working and settled abroad are victims of stringent child protection norms of European countries and the Indian government needs to come out with a comprehensive plan. Is. to help them.