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In Ariha Shah case, setback for Indian parents in German court
Berlin's Pankow local court has granted Ariha's custody to the German state while rejecting the parents' contention.
In a setback to Ariha Shah's parents, Berlin's Pankow local court has granted the baby's custody to the German state while rejecting the parents' contention that the injury sustained by their child was “accidental”. The court, justifying its June 13 verdict, reportedly stated that the “best interests of the child are at risk”.
The court rejected the application of Dhara and Bhavesh Shah to return the child to them directly or at least hand her over to a third party, the Indian Welfare Services and awarded Ariha’s custody to Jugendamt and ruled that “the parents are no longer authorised to decide on the whereabouts of their child”, The Indian Express reported.
What's the Ariha Shah case?
In 2018, Bhavesh Shah and Dhara Shah, the couple from Mumbai, travelled to Germany for the job. During their stay, they welcomed a baby girl Ariha. One day while Ariha was playing, she accidentally fell and sustained an injury in her private area.
The child was taken to a local hospital where she received immediate medical attention. Subsequently, Bhavesh and Dhara Shah were summoned by the hospital authorities.
Upon examining the child's injuries, suspicions arose of potential sexual assault. The parents claimed that Ariha was accidentally hurt by her grandmother.
Ariha was placed in the custody of Germany's Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) on September 23, 2021, after the baby, who was seven months old then. She has been in foster care since then.
The German authorities placed the child under foster care alleging that her Indian parents harassed her.
India had urged Germany to send back the two-year-old Indian girl who has been in its foster case system for more than 20 months.
MEA's statement on Ariha Shah
At a media briefing on June 3, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Ariha's continued stay in the German foster care and “infringement” of her social, cultural and linguistic rights are of deep concern to the government of India and the parents.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde wrote to external affairs minister S Jaishankar seeking his assistance in bringing Ariha back home.
"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," Bagchi had 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.
In a statement, Ariha's parents expressed their faith in the Indian government and said they have confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jaishankar will work towards bringing Ariha back to India, India Today reported.
"From today, we hand over Ariha to 140 crore Bhartiyas," the parents said in the statement after the verdict.
