JOIN USThe Indian couple facing criminal charges of “gross or repeated maltreatment” of their child will be sentenced on Tuesday even as the prosecution termed the case as “very serious” and justified their arrest ahead of the court verdict.
“The sentencing is tomorrow (Tuesday). They are facing child abuse case and are charged with gross or repeated maltreatment of their child/children by threats, violence or other wrong, under section 219,” Kurt Lir, Head of Prosecution, Oslo Police Department, said.
“There were burn marks and scars on the body of the child, who has also been beaten by the belt.”
Asked why the police arrested the couple — Chandrasekhar Vallabhaneni, a software professional from Andhra Pradesh, and his wife Anupama before the sentencing, Lir said, it is feared that they will evade prosecution by returning to India. “Under three circumstances (i e) if we are concerned about (tampering) of the evidence or we fear they may leave the country or they might do it again, we make arrests before the sentencing,” he said.
Anupama’s lawyer Marte Brotrome said it was wrong to keep the Indian couple in prison in Norway. “If the court sentences them, we will appeal against it,” she has said.
“They didn’t hurt their children...They had some difficulties in handling the boy but they didn’t hurt him and they didn’t mean to do anything wrong. They tried to get help but they did not get any help,” she said.
The police arrested Chandrasekhar, nine months after the child complained to his school teachers that his parents were threatening to send him back to India for his acts.
India’s stand
India has already indicated that it will not intervene in the legal process of that country.
“This is an issue that relates not to the government. It relates to a private citizen and to the local law of that country,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said.
Meanwhile, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Monday said that India can diplomatically “do something” in the case. “Government can diplomatically do something,” he told reporters here.
Asked to comment on External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s statement, Ravi said: “That is a legal position but diplomatically we can try to influence the government.” “We can tell him (ambassador) to try to help the family,” Ravi said, adding he had tried to contact India’s Ambassador to Norway but his efforts did not succeed. “I hope the Ambassador must have done something,” he said.
The postponement of the verdict dampened the mood at the Vallabhaneni family, who live in Mrudula apartments at Miyapur in Hyderabad.
Sons of the Indian couple involved in the Norway case, Sai Sriram and Abhiram, are living with their grandparents at the apartments. While Chandrasekhar’s nephew Shailendra was busy meeting a steady stream of visitors and media, Anupama's parents returned to their home in Dilsukhnagar.
“There is no official information neither about the case nor postponement. We believe that the verdict has been posted for Tuesday and we were told that the verdict could be mailed to the advocate engaged by my uncle,” Shailendra said. Supporting his uncle and aunt, he said that the court should consider Indian family values.