Film on Indian mother’s custody battle with Norwegian government brings spotlight on other such cases

The film which is based on the book The Journey of a Mother, written by Sagarika, whose child she says was taken away from her over cultural differences in upbringing

Activists called for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take a stronger interest in child custody cases in the West, as the launch of the movie Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway, that focuses on the diplomatic row between India and Norway in 2011, sheds light on cases where parents lose custody of their children over cultural differences in their upbringing. The movie also has parallels to the ongoing dispute involving a child in Germany.

The film was released across the country on Friday, even as the Norwegian Embassy in Delhi called it a “work of fiction”, and defended the Norwegian Child Welfare Services.

The case involved the confiscation of two young children from an Indian couple living in Norway by authorities over charges that the parents, Abhirup and Sagarika Chatterjee (played in the movie by Rani Mukherjee) were “unfit” to look after them. After India raised several diplomatic protests, the children were returned to India by Norwegian authorities and placed with other family members in 2012.

“It can’t be explained in words what I had to go through to get my children back. The film can show just 20% of the trauma which we had to endure,” Ms. Sagarika, who has now reverted to her maiden name of Chakraborty, told The Hindu before the screening of the movie at a theatre in the national capital.

In a detailed statement, the Norwegian Embassy in Delhi refuted the charges, saying that the children were not removed from their parents due to “cultural differences”, or that the welfare authorities confiscate children to make a “profit”, and the government was bound by privacy laws from giving specific details of the case.

“The case being referred to was resolved a decade ago in cooperation with Indian authorities and with the agreement of all parties involved,” the statement issued in Delhi said. “In Norway, we value and respect different family systems and cultural practices, also when these are different to what we are accustomed to - apart from corporal punishment in the upbringing. There is zero tolerance for violence in any shape or form,” it added.

The film which is based on a book written by Ms. Sagarika, The Journey of a Mother, shows how the Norwegian child protection services object to children being hand-fed, comparing it to force feeding. They also had problems with the children sharing a bed with their parents, which is quite common in Indian households. They also accused Ms. Sagarika of slapping her toddler, as well as the children not having enough room to play in the house and having “unsuitable” clothes and toys.