India summons Norway ambassador over custody row

NEW DELHI: India today summoned Norwegian Ambassador Ann Ollestad seeking expeditious solution to the custody row involving two NRI children, who have been kept in foster care by the authorities of that country.

The Norwegian Ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs and she met Secretary (West) Madhusudan Ganapathi, official spokesperson in the MEA Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here.

The envoy was summoned a day after CPI(M) MP and politburo member Brinda Karat met External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and sought government's immediate intervention in ensuring early return of two Indian children separated from their parents last year on the grounds of "emotional disconnect".

She had conveyed her concern over the statement made by a top Norwegian official that the children will not be sent to India before April.

Official sources said the ministry asked the envoy as to why the process of bringing the children together with their family was taking time.

NRI couple Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya's children Abhigyan (3) and Aishwarya (1) were taken away last year by Barnevarne (Norwegian Child Welfare Services), which claimed emotional disconnect with the parents, and placed them in foster parental care according to the local Norwegian court's directive.