Parents of child in enforced German care want her back on Independence Day

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, August 11

Parents of an Indian child in the care of Germany’s Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) since 2021, have stepped up their campaign to have her repatriated to the country. The parents along with their sympathisers on Friday staged a sit in here to demand that the child Ariha Shah be allowed to celebrate Independence Day in her home country.

In the latest move, Jugendamt has stopped visitations by the parents, while gifts sent from India were returned unopened. “It is clear that the Germans are determined to cut us out of our daughter’s life and keep her permanently in Germany. Since the German child services has her passport, we fear that this order giving them full custody will be used to change her nationality,’’ her mother Dhara Shah told The Tribune.

Dhara Shah said the German authorities were not even allowing video calls, saying it will give her psychological stress to Ariha. But a video shot between Dhara and Ariha provided by the former showed the child extremely happy to see her mother.

“The only hope for Ariha is the Indian Government. We have come here to appeal to the PM to take up this case of a Gujarati infant. Our only request is that she be sent to foster care or extended family in India as she deserves a better fate than being in a child center in a foreign country till she is 18,’’ she added.

About a fortnight back, the MEA had summoned the German Ambassador and asked him to ensure the child’s return as soon as possible. “At the minimum, her cultural rights and rights of being an Indian are being infringed. We have asked that the child be sent back from Germany a soon as possible,’’ MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said.