Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan on Wednesday came out in support of baby Ariha Shah's mother Dhara, whose child has been taken by the German government for around two years.
While speaking to the reporters, Bachchan said, “I am presenting Dhara Shah in front of everyone whose daughter Ariha Shah has been taken by the German govt for 2 years now. She has come to seek help from the parliamentarians. Due to cultural differences, they have taken a strict stand and we will put in a request to the external affairs minister and the German embassy as well.”
The Rajya Sabha MP also urged the union government to bring the stranded child back and necessary judgement should be made by the Indian government . "We request the Indian govt to bring the child and keep her in a foster home in India. The necessary judgement should be made by the Indian govt and not by the German govt," she said.
{{/usCountry}}The Rajya Sabha MP also urged the union government to bring the stranded child back and necessary judgement should be made by the Indian government . "We request the Indian govt to bring the child and keep her in a foster home in India. The necessary judgement should be made by the Indian govt and not by the German govt," she said.
{{/usCountry}}The child, Ariha Shah was accidentally hurt by her grandmother in September 2021 following which the German authorities took the baby away, who is currently under German foster care.
On July 15, members of the Indian diaspora staged a protest in Germany's Frankfurt highlighting the violation of Ariha's cultural rights and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help reunite the baby with her mother.
Waving the Indian national flag and holding banners reading “Modiji Save Ariha!” and “Ariha is Indian”, the group braved the rain to make an appeal for the two-year-old toddler to be returned to her parents Bhavesh and Dhara Shah.
In December 2022, External Affairs minister S Jaishankar had also conveyed to his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock his concerns as an "important and sensitive" issue over the baby girl.
“The child is an Indian national and she was placed in the custody of Germany's Youth Welfare Office of the (Jugendamt) on 23rd September 2021, when she was seven months old. She has now been in foster care for more than 20 months,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a statement last month.