The Calcutta high court on Wednesday allowed Sagarika Bhattacharya, the mother of the two children handed over to their uncle's custody by a Norwegian court, to keep them with her till Thursday when the judge is likely to pass final order on her petition regarding their custody.

Sagarika appeared with her children before the court on Wednesday when justice Dipankar Datta heard her case in camera for about an hour.

Earlier, state advocate Ashok Banerjee told the court that the police had tried their best to trace Sagarika's children but failed. "The police from Asansol went to Sagarika's paternal house in Birati (in Kolkata) but it was also found locked," Banerjee said.

Banerjee, however, disapproved of the January 8 police action of taking the children away from their uncle, Arunabhas Bhattachary, from his residence at Kulti in Burdwan district and restoring them to Sagarika even though her petition was pending in court.

Sagarika had moved the high court, complaining that despite the order of the child welfare committee (CWC) at Burdwan on November 8, 2012 the Asansol police had not taken any step to take her children from the custody of their uncle Arunabhas Bhattacharya and restore them to her.