Norwegian children custody row: India sends envoy to Norway

New Delhi: Special envoy Madhusudhan Ganapathi has been rushed to Norway to convey India’s concerns in connection with the NRI children’s custody row and will meet the Norwegian Foreign Minister today. [caption id=“attachment_226413” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The grandparents of the children held a protest outside the Norwegian embassy today demanding the return of the children. Screengrab of Sagarika Bhattacharya  from CNN-IBN”]  [/caption] Ganapathi, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been tasked to once again take up the matter and convey the government’s views on the issue to the Norwegian authorities, official sources said. Ganapathi is scheduled to meet Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store to convey India’s concerns over the matter involving one-year-old Aishwarya and three-year-old Abhigyan who were taken away by the child welfare officials in Norway in May last year and placed in foster care. The kids’ parents, NRI couple Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya, were accused of negligence by the Norwegian child welfare officials. India has been exerting pressure on Norway to find an amicable solution to the problem. India had said that it would make “all out” efforts to ensure early return of the two Indian children from Norway following attempts by authorities of that country to keep them in foster care after expiry of their visa next month. “We will make all out efforts to achieve the goal of getting back the children to India where they belong,” External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had said recently. The families of the NRI couple protested outside the Norwegian embassy in New Delhi today demanding that the two children be returned to India. “We demand the Norway government send the children back by 8 March,” Manotosh Chakraborty, grandfather of the children told reporters outside the Norwegian embassy. The children were not orphans and their Norwegian visas should not be extended beyond 8 March keeping them in foster care, he said. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat also joined the protest and demanded the return of the children. PTI