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Indian envoy off to Oslo as grandparents protest
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

New Delhi, February 27
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna rushed his special envoy to Norway even as the grandparents of two Indian children, lodged in a foster home in the Scandinavian nation, sat on a ‘dharna’ here today demanding the early return of the two kids to India.

Shortly after his arrival in Oslo, Madhusudan Ganpathi, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, had ‘positive discussions’ with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store on the fate of the two kids, MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.

Ganpathi was scheduled to meet Norway’s Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Audun Lysbakken and ombudsman for children in Norway Reidar Hjermann later today.

Abhigyan (3) and his sister Aishwarya (1) were taken away by child services in Norway last May, contending that their parents were not taking care of them.

Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, the parents, deny this and say ‘cultural differences’ led to the situation. Under an agreement arrived at last month, the two kids were to be given to their uncle, Arunabhash, who lives in Kolkata.

However, the Norwegian Childcare Services had last week said it would take a decision by early March on whether the custody of the children could be given to their uncle.

This obviously has agitated the parents of the children as well as their grandparents.

Supported by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, CPM leader Brinda Karat and CPI’s Annie Raja, the grandparents of the kids began a four-day protest, demanding that Norwegian authorities send the kids back to India immediately.

Expressing concern over the proposal of Norwegian authorities to extend the residence permits of the two children, Swaraj asked the Central Government to put pressure on the Scandinavian nation and said her party would be raising the issue in the coming session of Parliament. “Norway has been dilly-dallying. The parents and children are undergoing trauma. In order to put pressure on the authorities, we have decided to sit on dharna,” Monotosh Chakrabarty, grandfather of the children, said.