Amidst calls by the opposition for the government to take up the case of Baby Ariha Shah, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that it had summoned the German ambassador over the 2-year-old child’s situation in foster care in Germany.
The information was revealed the day after Dhara Shah, Ariha's mother, met with members of Parliament to plead for assistance and, at the very least for India to insist that Ariha be sent to an Indian foster family where she can be reared in her own Jain community and as an Indian citizen.
“At a minimum we believe this child’s cultural rights and rights as an Indian are being infringed upon by her being placed in German foster care,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters, adding that the 2021 case was being accorded “high priority”.
“The German Ambassador to India was summoned this week and our concerns were clearly conveyed to him. We have also asked for the early return of the child to India and we will continue to press German authorities on this matter,” he said, indicating the widening diplomatic differences between New Delhi and Berlin over the case.
According to sources, German Ambassador Phillip Ackerman was summoned by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, and the latest developments in the case were discussed. In an order on June 13, a court in Berlin held that Baby Ariha, who was then 8 months old, had suffered brutal injuries while in the care of her parents Dhara and Bhavesh Shah, a charge they have denied. Recording the nature of injuries reported in graphic detail, the court had decided that the child’s guardianship would be given to German Youth Services (Jugendamt), who had taken Ariha from the parents in September 2021 and had placed her at a foster home since then.