India urges Norway to return kids to couples

India on Monday stepped up diplomatic pressure on Norway to ensure return of two children to their Oslo-based Indian parents, whom they were separated from by the Nordic country’s childcare services last May.

Oslo responded positively to New Delhi’s request for return of the children to their natural parents, but pointed out that the matter was before a court in Norway and a solution had to be worked out within the ambit of the legal system of the country. New Delhi and Oslo are understood to be working on a plan, which might result in Kolkata-based grandparents of three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya getting the custody of the children.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna called up his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store on Tuesday and requested him to ensure return of to their NRI parents Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya.

The charge d’affaires of the Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi Aslak Brun was called in by the Ministry of External Affairs for a meeting with Krishna at his residence earlier in the evening. “After my talks with the local embassy and with the Norwegian Foreign Minister, I have come to this conclusion that a reasonable settlement of this issue can be worked out. Our anxiety is it should be worked out at the earliest so that the children are brought back to the protective umbrella of their biological parents and grandparents,” Krishna told journalists.

Norwegian Government is understood to have indicated that it might not stand in the way if Abhigyan and Aishwarya’s grandparents, Manotosh and Shikha Chakrabarty, who live in Kolkata, moves the Norwegian court to get the custody of the children.

“I don’t think after my talks with my counterpart in Norway that taking into consideration the kind of relationship we have between the two Governments, it should be difficult for us to work out a settlement,” said Krishna.