MEA to dispatch child rights framework to Norway soon

India will soon send “factual documentation” of its policy framework pertaining to child rights and welfare to the Norwegian authorities, which had asked for it following the NRI children custody row.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has already compiled its response to the query of the Norwegian authorities about laws and policies dealing with children’s rights and their welfare in the country, official sources said.

Ahead of the hearing case on March 23 in Norway, the Norwegian authorities, which have decided to award the custody of the two children—three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya—to their father’s brother, had sought a response from India about the laws by March 20. “Factual documentation required by the Norwegian authorities is being arranged with the assistance of appropriate Indian ministries and organisations and will be sent to Norway well in time for court hearing,” the sources said.

The two kids were taken away from their parents Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, an NRI couple living there, by Barnevarne Norwegian CWS last May on the ground of “emotional disconnect” and put in a foster home.

The MEA has been making huge efforts to impress upon the Norwegian authorities to find an amicable and urgent solution to the row with Minister S M Krishna assuring that the children would be brought home at “any cost.”