Norway Child Row: MEA to Take Action as Mother Writes to Govt

The five-year-old was taken away from his parents, who have been accused of beating him.

Sushma Swaraj sought a report from the Indian Ambassador in Norway on the allegations made by an Indian couple that their child has been taken away. (Photo: Reuters)

The Indian woman, whose son has been taken away by the Norwegian authorities, has approached the Indian Embassy in Oslo seeking government's intervention, following which the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it will now chalk out the future course of action in the case.

Gurvinderjit Kaur has approached the Indian government with the "formal written" request in this regard, BJP leader Vijay Jolly said.

Kaur and her husband, who is a Norwegian national, have alleged that authorities in that country have taken away their five-year-old son Aryan, also a Norwegian national, on a frivoulous complaint of abuse.

Confirming that Kaur has approached the government, MEA officials said they were now "empowered" to pursue the matter with the Norwegian authorities and they will chalk out the future course of action in the case.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday had got in touch with India's Ambassador to Norway.

"I have asked the Indian Ambassador in Norway to send me a report," Swaraj tweeted.

According to reports, the child was taken from kindergarten on 13 December without the parents being informed and is being kept at a children's welfare home some 150 km away from Norwegian capital Oslo.

His mother, Gurvinderjit Kaur, was also taken into custody and was subjected to interrogation.

The child's father, Anil Kumar, who runs an Indian restaurant, has denied the allegations and said that his son was asthmatic.

This is the third such case in Norway involving Indian children.

In 2011, a three-year-old and and a one-year-old were separated from their parents, but they were later reunited when the UPA government took up the issue with Norwegian authorities.

In another case of alleged child abuse in December 2012, a seven-year-old and a two-year-old were separated from their parents. The mother got a 15-month prison term and the father was jailed for 18 months.

The two children were sent to the custody of their grandparents in Hyderabad.

In the context of this case in 2012, Swaraj had come down heavily on the Norwegian law, calling it “kidnapping”.