Stavanger, Norway:
This morning, External Affairs minister SM Krishna promised a pair of senior citizens now recognizable across India that their grandchildren would be brought back to India "at any cost."
Hours later came a significant breakthrough from Norway, where the children have been in foster care since May last year after local child welfare officials decided their parents were negligent. Child welfare officials announced that they will recommend in court that the children be placed in the custody of their uncle, Arunabhash Bhattacharya. The court hearing is scheduled for March 23. The children's visas expire on March 8. Norwegian officials will apply for residential permits that will allow the children to stay on in the country till the court indicates if it accepts Arunabhash as their guardian. Sources say the court is unlikely to over-rule what child welfare officials have suggested.
"This week, the Child Welfare Service (CWS) in Stavanger completed its talks with the uncle in the child welfare case concerning two Indian children. It has been concluded that care of the two children should be awarded to the brother of the children's father enabling him to take the children back to India," CWS said in a press statement.
Over the last three months, the Bhattacharyas' fight for one-year-old Aishwarya and three-year-old Abhigyan has grown into a national campaign. Anurup, a geologist, moved to Norway in 2006. Trouble began at Abihgyan's school where teachers found him distant. Visits by local authorities scaled up into an unfathomable catalogue of charges for the parents - Sagarika was determined to be clinically depressed, though no medical test was conducted.
Anurup was evaluated as a parent more committed to travelling and work than to his children. Abhigyan was found to have an attachment disorder - his reactions suggested he had been hit at home, said officials.
The Indian government was nudged into intervention by desperate visits to Delhi by Sagarika's aged parents. They held protests, met President Pratibha Patil and petitioned the media for assistance. Their efforts were assisted by CPM leader Brinda Karat. And yesterday, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj visited them at the site of their protest in Delhi and promised to raise the issue in parliament.
Yesterday, India rushed a special envoy Madhusudan Ganpathy to meet Oslo authorities, and to stress what Mr Krishna said last week - that the children were "neither orphans nor stateless persons." The visit came after Norwegian officials asked for an extension of the children's stay beyond March 8, when their visas expire. Though Anurup and Sagarika did not consent to the application, Norwegian law does not need their approval.
Through the last month, the government has been working with the Bhattacharyas on positioning Arunabhash, a young dentist from West Bengal, as a palatable solution. Norwegian officials have supervised his visits with Abhigyan and Aishwarya. They say that if the court accepts him as the custodian, the Indian government will have to offer several guarantees like ensuring he can afford their care and medical attention for Abhigyan.