In a rare instance of cross-party cooperation, 59 MPs cutting across 19 political parties have written a joint letter to Philipp Ackerman, the German ambassador in New Delhi, asking him to do everything possible to ensure that Ariha Shah, a baby girl living in foster care in Berlin for over 20 months, is repatriated to India at the earliest.
Signatories include Congress MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Shashi Tharoor, Hema Malini and Maneka Gandhi from the BJP, DMK’s Kanimozhi, NCP’s Supriya Sule, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav, RJD’s Manoj Jha, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Elamaran Kareem and John Brittas from the CPM, Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, BSP’s Kunwar Danish Ali, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, CPI’s Binoy Viswam, and National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah.
Ariha Shah has been in foster care in Germany since September 23, 2021 – when she was barely seven months old. At the time, German authorities had alleged that Ariha’s parents – Dhara and Bhavesh – had abused her.
The Ministry of External Affairs too has been involved in this case since 2022. On Friday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “We are dismayed to learn that the child was abruptly shifted away from her current foster parent to a specialised foster care arrangement … 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.”
This case seemingly has many parallels to that of Sagarika Chakraborty. In 2011, Norwegian authorities took her two children away and placed them in foster care after accusing her of “improper parenting”. Rani Mukherjee’s recent film Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway was based on Chakroborty’s struggle to get her children back.
Why was Ariha taken by German authorities?
Bhavesh Shah, a Gujarati software engineer, moved to Berlin with his wife, Dhara, in 2018. Ariha was thus born in the German capital in 2021. All was going well till the fateful day in September, when Ariha was abruptly taken by the Jugendamt, German childcare services.
Speaking to the media, Dhara said that Ariha’s grandmother had come to Berlin to see her recently-born granddaughter. Unfortunately, she “accidently hurt the child”, causing injury to her “outer genital area”. When she was taken to a hospital, authorities were alerted of what was suspected to be a case of “sexual assault”.
This prompted the Jugendamt to take swift action, immediately taking the child away to foster care, with her parents allowed to visit once every fortnight or so. The authorities also registered a case of child sexual abuse against the parents.
What has happened since Ariha Shah was taken from her parents?
After an investigation, the assault charges were dropped but authorities accused the parents of negligence instead. However, the case against the parents was closed in February 2022, without any formal charges being filed against them.
Despite this, the baby was not returned to her parents. Instead, the Jugendamt filed a civil custody case for the termination of parental rights and permanent custody of the child. Since then, the parents have been fighting a legal battle for the custody of their child, who now is over two.
Over the course of 2022, a court-appointed psychologist conducted a thorough psychological evaluation of the parents. This evaluation was completed in 2022, with the expert recommending that the child should be placed with either parent in a parent-and-child facility, with the other parent regularly visiting her.
While this would be impractical since Bhavesh’s visa is about to expire, even before a court order came in on the issue, the Jugendamt shifted Ariha to a facility for children with special needs, where she remains as of today.
What are some of the concerns in this case?
First and foremost is the issue of custody itself. Despite no formal charges ever being filed against the parents and the court-appointed psychologist recommending parental supervision of some form, Ariha still remains in custody of German authorities.
Second, is the issue of her being moved around, especially to a facility for children with special needs. As the MPs’ letter put it, “Ariha is not a special needs child. Shifting her around from one carer to another will cause deep and damaging trauma to the child. The parents are allowed only fortnightly visits. The videos of these meetings are heart wrenching and they reveal the deep bonds the baby has with her parents and the pain of separation.”
Then there is also the issue of the specific upbringing Ariha is receiving in Germany. The MPs pointed out that Ariha belongs to a Jain family who are strictly vegetarian. Nonetheless, she is being fed non-vegetarian food in foster care.
“We have our own cultural norms. The baby belongs to a Jain family who are strict vegetarians. The baby is being brought up in an alien culture, being fed non-vegetarian food. Being here in India, you can better appreciate how unacceptable this is to us,” the MPs wrote.
This is a part of a larger question of cultural differences and upbringing, a theme that repeatedly emerged in the case of Sagarika Chakraborty’s children as well.
As Arindam Bagchi pointed out, the child’s best interests, “can be fully realised only when she is in her home country where her socio-cultural rights can be safeguarded.”
This was also acknowledged by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock when she visited New Delhi last December. At the time, she had said that Germany was “also bearing in mind the cultural identity of each child that is taken care of by the youth offices in Germany.”
What have the MPs and the Indian government suggested?
The government of India has asked for the child to be repatriated to India, to a Jain foster home, under the supervision of India’s child welfare services.
“The foster family is willing to accommodate the parents in their home so as to carry out the court psychologist’s recommendation for the child to be with the parents under supervision. This is a fair way to resolve the issue, by respecting the German court appointed psychologists recommendation and implementing it under the supervision of Indian authorities, here in India,” the MPs said.
The parents on the other hand just want their child to be back in India, free from Jagendamt custody.
“Throw us into jail, but repatriate our child to India,” Bhavesh told the media last year. “In any case, without her, home is like a jail,” he added.
