Fifty-nine MPs from 19 parties have written to the German ambassador to India seeking his intervention in ensuring the return of an Indian baby girl who was taken away from her parents by the German authorities in September 2021.
The German child welfare agency Jugendamt took custody of Ariha Shah, when she was seven months old, alleging that the parents harassed her. “We do not cast aspersions on any agency in your country and assume that whatever was done was thought to be in the best interests of the baby. We respect the legal procedures in your country, but given that there are no criminal cases pending against any member of the said family, it is more than time to send the baby back home,” the parliamentarians wrote.
The letter has been endorsed by MPs cutting across party lines. They included Hema Malini (BJP), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP), Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (DMK), Mahua Moitra (TMC), Agatha Sangma (NPP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD), Maneka Gandhi (BJP), Praneet Kaur (Congress), Shashi Tharoor (Congress) and Farooq Abdullah (NC).
They said Ariha’s parents Dhara and Bhavesh Shah were in Berlin as the baby’s father was employed in a company there. The family should have been back in India by now but for some tragic events.
Ariha was taken away from her parents after the child had suffered an accidental injury for which she was hospitalized. An investigation was instituted against her parents for child sexual abuse. In February 2022, the police case was closed without any charges against the parents. The hospital too issued a report ruling out sexual abuse, the letter read.
The case has taken over a year-and-a-half for an evaluation of the parents by a court-appointed psychologist, they said. India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Ariha’s continued stay in the German foster care and “infringement” of her social, cultural and linguistic rights is of deep concern to the government of India and the parents.