Norway custody row: NRI couple's ordeal continues; authorities taking time to grant children's custody

Oslo: There seems to be no end in sight to the ordeal that an NRI couple in Norway has been going through over the custody of their children. For Sagarika Bhattacharya, the feeling of emptiness and pain of staying away from her two children - three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya - is getting unbearable. The two were taken away by the Norwegian authorities in May last year and placed under foster care after they found the Bhattacharyas guilty of "an emotional disconnect" with their children.

As uncertainty still looms over when they would be able to reunite with their children, the couple is now getting desperate. While Sagarika draws consolation by looking at her children's clothes, her husband Anurup is now finding the separation with his kids difficult. He says he has developed several stress-related medical disorders and has been on a medical leave for the last few months. He wants to sell off his house and return to India but is unable to as he has to wait for his children to return.

But, that wait seems to be far from over. Despite the Indian government's intervention, the Norwegian Child Welfare Services is following long procedures in handing over the children to their paternal uncle, Arunabhas Bhattacharya, who will be the formal custodian of the two.

For starters, Mr Bhattacharya - a dentist by profession - has been asked to stay away from his brother and sister-in-law - the child's parents. Towards that end, he has been put up at a hotel, the expenses of which the agency has promised to foot. He is also being made to attend regular sessions with the welfare service and psychologists, who say they want to ensure he knows what he's getting into. This involves teaching him how to take care of the children since, the agency says, he is young. After the Norway courts allow the children's custody to be passed to him, the latter would be able to return to India with the children.

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Yesterday, Arunabhas met with his nephew Abhigyan and found him in a "traumatised" state. "Abhigyan was kept in good hands but he was traumatised. He was frightened, he was scared. When I saw him he just came and jumped on me," Mr Arunabhas said after the meeting. He hopes to meet his niece Aishwarya soon. (Read)

Meanwhile, the Norwegian authorities are taking their time in making their recommendations to the court that will eventually decide the fate of the two children of the NRI couple. They also categorically denied that cultural differences had played a role in their decision to take away the children, adding that they will not give in to the political pressure they are facing right now and give a quick recommendation to the courts to give custody to the uncle.

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Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister SM Krishna had told Norwegian diplomats and his counterpart that the children must be brought back to India and to an environment in which they are culturally and linguistically comfortable.