New Delhi: Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at his weekly briefing on Friday, June 2, that the ministry and the Indian embassy in Berlin have been “persistently advocating” for the return of an Indian child who had been placed in Germany’s child welfare custody in 2021, but that India’s requests to safeguard the child’s national and cultural identity “have not been met.”
In March, Bagchi had called it a “sensitive case.”
The child’s parents, Dhara and Bhavesh Shah, are originally residents of Mumbai, Maharashtra, and following a meeting between them and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, the latter is learned to have written to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on the matter.
The child has been in foster care in Germany for the last 20 months and her parents are eager to bring her back, Shinde wrote. There have been campaigns on social media and sections of news media as well, to get her back. Although most reports note the child’s name, The Wire is choosing to withhold it as she is a minor.
“You have already intervened in the matter but I urge you to take up the matter again with the German government,” he added.
Bagchi said today that the ministry’s “efforts have been guided by the best interests of the child, which we believe can be fully realised only when she is in her home country where her socio-cultural rights can be safeguarded.”
“Accordingly, we have been requesting Germany to return the child to India. The Embassy has repeatedly requested German authorities to ensure that [the child’s] connection with her cultural, religious and linguistic background is not compromised and sought consular access to the child as well as cultural immersion at the Indian Cultural Centre in Berlin. German Foreign Minister H.E. Ms Annalena Baerbock, during her visit to India, had also conveyed that the German side was “also bearing in mind the cultural identity of each child that is taken care of by the youth offices in Germany”,” Bagchi further said.
He then added that unfortunately India’s requests to safeguard the child’s national and cultural identity “have not been met.”
He added that the manner in which the child was “abruptly shifted” from a particular foster parent to specialised foster care is “a matter of concern.”
“We and the parents believe that this rapid change is not in the child’s best interest and could have far-reaching consequences for her emotional and mental development,” he added, highlighting that India has a robust child welfare and protection system, and there are potential foster parents in India who are willing to bring up the child “in her own socio-cultural milieu.”
This latter fact has also, allegedly, been shared with Germany, Bagchi noted.
The child’s continued placement in German foster care amounts to an “infringement of her social, cultural and linguistic rights” and this matter is of deep concern to the government of India and the parents, the MEA said.
Finally, Bagchi said, “We would like to reiterate that [the child] is an Indian national and her nationality and socio-cultural background is the most important determinant of where her foster care is to be provided. We urge German authorities to do all that is necessary to send [her] to India at the earliest, which is also her inalienable right as an Indian national.