As parents pursue appeal in Baby Ariha case in Germany, Opposition MPs step up pressure on government

Opposition parties stepped up the pressure on the government to press Germany to allow the return of two-year-old “Baby Ariha” to India. The group met informally with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and asked for a formal meeting to discuss the case.

Opposition parties stepped up the pressure on the government to press Germany to allow the return of two-year-old “Baby Ariha” to India, even as the child’s family and the Ministry of External Affairs prepare for an appeals process in the German courts.

On Wednesday, nearly 20 Members of Parliament — cutting across party lines — met Ariha’s mother Dhara Shah in Parliament, demanding that the government take up the case for the child’s return to India more urgently. The group met informally with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and asked for a formal meeting to discuss the case. The MPs, many of whom had earlier written a petition to German Ambassador in India Phillip Ackerman, also demanded that the case be taken up politically at the highest levels.

Also read: Explained | The diplomatic row over the repatriation of baby Ariha from Germany

“She is the daughter of India and should be sent back here… We urge the Union government to take the necessary steps to bring her back,” Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said, blaming “cultural differences” between India and Germany as the reason for the “strict stand” taken by the German administration.

“What happened in the Norway case? The Prime Minister’s office directly intervened and a special envoy was sent to bring back the two children. Why can’t similar action be taken now?” asked Communist Party of India (Maoist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, drawing a parallel to a case involving two Indian children taken from their parents in Norway in 2012, who were eventually transferred from Norway to their extended family members in India. In an article last week, Ms. Karat had also suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take up the matter directly with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is due to visit Delhi next month for the G-20 summit.

“This is a humanitarian tragedy and rising above our political differences, if required, we will also approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let him at least ensure that the child is brought up in an Indian foster home and not a German household,” Shiv Sena (Udhav) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said. 

The government is expected to brief Parliament about its stand in the case and the latest developments, which include an adverse order from a court in Berlin on foster custody for Ariha. The June 13 order came despite strenuous pleas from Ariha’s parents, denying allegations by German Youth Services (Jugendamt) that the 8-month-old had suffered physical abuse while at home. For the last two years, Ariha has been kept in foster care in Germany, while the parents have taken up their case with the Indian Embassy in Berlin as well as by meeting prominent politicians and senior officials in the MEA in Delhi.