India’s External Affairs Ministry (MEA) summoned the German ambassador in the national capital New Delhi to seek the early return of two-year-old girl Ariha Shah, who has been in foster care in Berlin for more than 20 months.
The move came after 59 MPs from 19 political parties signed a joint letter urging the early repartition of repatriation of Ariha Shah.
“We attach high priority to this case. At the minimum, her cultural rights and rights of being an Indian are being infringed in this respect. The German Ambassador (Philipp Ackermann) was summoned this week and our concerns were clearly conveyed. We have asked to get the child back from Germany as soon as possible. We will continue to press the German authorities on this matter,’’ MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said when asked about the case on Thursday (Aug 3).
On Wednesday (Aug 2), some parliamentarians had met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and requested his intervention in the case.
The Indian government has been actively involved in the case ever since the whole matter came to the fore.
Last month too, the Indian government asked the German authorities to do all that is necessary to send Ariha to India at the earliest.
The MEA said it is important for the child to be in her linguistic, religious, cultural and social environment.
“Ariha’s continued placement in German foster care and infringement of her social, cultural and linguistic rights is of deep concern to the Government and the parents,’’ Bagchi had said.
Row over repatriation of Ariha Shah, taken by Germany govt from parents in 2021
Why Ariha is in foster care?
The Indian couple—Bhavesh Shah, a Gujarati software engineer and his wife Dhara— moved to Berlin in 2021. In September, the baby suffered injuries to her outer genital area following which she was admitted to a hospital.
Dhara said that the injury happened when the baby’s grandmother, who visited Berlin to see her grandchild, “accidentally” hit her.
This prompted the German authorities to place the child in foster care on September 23, 2021, claiming that her parents allegedly harassed Ariha, who was only seven months old that time.
Following an investigation, the authorities dropped assault charges, and instead accused the parents of negligence.
But this case was also closed in February 2022, without any formal charges being filed against them.
Despite this, the Jugendamt, German childcare services, did not return the baby to her parents and filed a civil custody case for the termination of parental rights and permanent custody of the child.
Since then, the parents have been fighting a legal battle for the custody of their child.
The case has been gaining traction in India since it bears resemblance to a similar case that took place in Norway in 2021 where two children of Sagarika Chakraborty were placed in foster care after accusing her of “improper parenting”.
