Norway row: Uncle gets custody, kids to return to India

A Norwegian court has awarded the custody of the two NRI children, who spent close to a year in the custody of child welfare services in Norway, to their paternal uncle and they are expected to return to India tomorrow. The children, three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya have been in the custody of the Norwegian Child Welfare Services since May 2011. The custody of the children has been handed over to their paternal uncle Arunabhash, who is expected to return with them to India tomorrow, CNN IBN reported. [caption id=“attachment_284779” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The kids have been in custody of child welfare services since May 2011. Image courtest Ibnlive”]  [/caption] During the last hearing in the child welfare case the Child Welfare Services and the children’s parents submitted a joint claim to the court stating that there is an agreement that the conditions for the children being taken into care have been met. A  hearing on the children’s custody on 23 March did not take place after a physical argument between the parents of the children, Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya, in which the latter accused his wife of physical violence and hiding a psychological condition. Following reports of discord between the couple, the local Child Welfare Services had said the grounds for signing the earlier agreement no longer existed and had said they would not transfer the custody of the children to their paternal uncle Arunabhash. The parents had on 21 March in the agreed in the presence of an official of the Indian embassy that the custody of the children should be handed over to Arunabhash. The Child Welfare Services of the local municipal body in Stavanger had then agreed to give the custody of the children to their uncle. Their case has seen many twists with the Indian government even sending a special envoy to negotiate on behalf of the parents and seeking the transfer of custody of the children to their uncle. However, the Indian government has played a more restrained role after reports of marital discord between the parents emerged.