Norway custody row: Solution by March end?

New Delhi: As an Indian couple fights to get the custody of their child in Norway, Norwegian Ambassador to India, Ann Ollestad, has told NDTV that they are looking at the end of March as a time frame to end the custody row of the two Indian children who are in foster care.

She also says that children's interest is most important.

"We are working very constructively with this and we have a time frame. The dialogue between the uncle and the Child Welfare Service is going very well and hopefully the Child Welfare Service can bring this case to the majestic court in the end of March so we do have a good time frame for solving this issue in best interests of both the Indian family and of course also the Child Welfare Service that has the children's interests as the most important," she said.

India is, meanwhile, providing consular help to the Indian couple after the Norwegian authorities were seeking to extend the residence permits of their two young Indian children who have been put in foster care in Stavanger. (Read: Norway custody row- Top 10 developments)

The Indian government has conveyed its serious concerns regarding the manner in which this was done to the Norwegian Foreign Office, in Oslo as well as in New Delhi.

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India has told Norway officials that two Indian children who have been put in foster care there against their parents' wishes are "neither orphans nor Stateless persons, and enjoy the protection of the Indian State," and any request for extension of residence permit on their behalf should emanate from either the parents or the Indian State.

The Indian couple, Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya, have been accused of negligence by child welfare officials in Norway; their children - one-year-old Aishwarya and three-year-old Abhigyan - were taken from them last May and placed in foster care.

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Anurup, a geologist, was posted to a town named Stavanger; the couple's visas expire in March and they want their children to be returned to them before it becomes tough for the parents to return to Norway.

The Bhattacharyas have been informed that child welfare authorities have asked immigration officials to grant temporary resident permits to the children even without their parents' consent. Norwegian law would allow the children to stay on in Norway even if parents don't agree. The Indian government has declared this unacceptable.

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