New Delhi, Feb 25 (UNI) The Indian Embassy in Germany is in close touch with an Indian couple whose baby girl was taken away by German Child Services authorities in September 2021 in Berlin and kept in a foster home, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said on Saturday.
Answering a question relating to Baby Ariha, who was taken away by the Child Services in Berlin and kept in a foster home, the Foreign Secretary said that it is an issue of great sensitivity.
“Regarding the case of Baby Ariha, this is something of great sensitivity that we greatly care about. Our embassy has been in close touch with the parents and the German authorities to find a way forward. Since it involves a baby, there are issues of privacy; but we are very sensitive to it, and are regularly in close touch with the parents,” Foreign Secretary Kwatra said.
The issue was also raised by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during the India visit of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in December last year.
The baby girl, the child of Ahmedabad-based parents Bhavesh and Dhara Shah, was taken away by the Child Services in September 2021 when she was seven months old after a doctor found blood on the baby’s diaper. According to the parents, the child’s maternal grandmother had accidentally injured the baby.
The parents have been pleading to be allowed to keep their child. The father was posted in Germany at the time and was on a work visa.
EAM Jaishankar, commenting on the case in December last year had said: ”There's a case related to a child called Ariha Shah. We've concerns that she should be in her linguistic, religious, cultural and social environment. This is her right. Our embassy is pursuing this with German authorities. It was a subject which I brought up with the Minister (Annalena Baerbock).”
UNI RN