Bhavesh Shah and his wife Dhara moved to Berlin in 2018 and Ariha was born to the couple in 2021. FILE.
Bhavesh Shah and his wife Dhara moved to Berlin in 2018 and Ariha was born to the couple in 2021. FILE.
While New Delhi has been repeatedly urging the German authorities to send 21-month-old girl Ariha Shah, living in a foster care since September 2021, back to India at the earliest, Berlin has been turning a deaf ear.
When Firstpost reached out to the German embassy in New Delhi, a senior official, dodging questions about Ariha, kept saying: “We are not commenting on it at this moment.”
Why Ariha Shah is in custody of German authorities?
Ariha, daughter of Gujarati software engineer Bhavesh Shah, has been sent to a special facility home in Berlin recently.
Bhavesh and his wife Dhara moved to Berlin in 2018 and Ariha was born to the couple in 2021. In September that year, Ariha was taken by the Jugendamt, German childcare services.
Talking to media, Dhara said Ariha’s grandmother had visited Berlin to see her new-born granddaughter. Unfortunately, she “accidentally hurt the child”, causing injury to her “outer genital area”.
Dhara had said that she and Bhavesh had taken the baby to a doctor in September 2021 after they spotted blood in her diaper. They took Ariha back home when the doctor gave the all-clear, but when she was taken for a follow-up, the hospital handed Ariha over to German child services and an attempt was made to accuse the parents of sexually abusing her.
“They took the baby to a hospital, authorities were alerted of what was suspected to be a case of ‘sexual assault’,” she said.
After the Jugendamt was made aware of the situation, it immediately took the child away to foster care, with her parents allowed to visit once every fortnight. The authorities also registered a case of child sexual abuse against the parents.
However, after the investigation, the assault charges were dropped and authorities instead accused Ariha’s parents of negligence.
In February 2022, the case against the parents was closed without any formal charges being filed against them. Despite this, Ariha was not returned Bhavesh and Dhara.
Instead, the Jugendamt had filed a civil custody case for the termination of parental rights and permanent custody their daughter. Since then, Ariha’s parents have been fighting a legal battle for the custody of their daughter.
Send back Ariha
As many as 59 MPs from 19 political parties, including the BJP, Congress, the Left and the Trinamool Congress, have written a joint letter to Germany’s Ambassador to India, asking him to do everything possible to ensure that Ariha is repatriated to India at the earliest.
In the letter to German Ambassador to New Delhi, Philipp Ackerman, the MPs — both from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha — said it is essential to bring Ariha back to “her own country, people, culture and environment”. They wrote that “any delay will cause irreparable harm to the baby”.
“We, Members from both Houses of India’s Parliament, belonging to 19 political parties across the political spectrum are writing this joint letter to you with an urgent request regarding the repatriation to India of Ariha Shah, a two year old baby girl, a citizen of India as are her parents Dhara and Bhavesh Shah. The family were in Berlin as the baby’s father was employed in a company there. The family should have been back in India by now but for some tragic events,” the Indian lawmakers wrote
“We do not cast aspersions on any agency in your country and assume that whatever was done was thought to be in the best interests of the baby,” the letter by Indian parliamentarians read.
The Government of India also officially asked Germany to let Ariha return, saying it is her inalienable right as an Indian national.
“The MEA has released a very strong statement, asking German authorities to send Ariha (Shah) back to India at the earliest. This has given us a lot of hope that Ariha will soon return to her country,” Dhara was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Ariha’s mother also said that if there will be a Prime Minister-level intervention in the case, then her daughter can return to India.
Last week, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Ariha’s continued stay in German foster care and “infringement” of her social, cultural and linguistic rights is of deep concern to the government of India and the parents.
“We would like to reiterate that Ariha Shah is an Indian national and her nationality and socio-cultural background is the most important determinant of where her foster care is to be provided,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
“We urge German authorities to do all that is necessary to send Ariha to India at the earliest, which is also her inalienable right as an Indian national. We remain committed to ensuring the return of Ariha Shah to India,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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