Indian Foreign Minister Intervenes to Defuse Indian Child Abuse Row in Norway

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has urged Norway to return a five-year-old boy to his Indian-origin parents after the authorities took him into custody over suspected abuse. Swaraj has promised a "firm stand" and asked the Indian envoy in Oslo to meet with the Norwegian authorities to resolve the issue.

The stand-off related to child custody between the two countries has erupted again. India and Norway had a major falling out in 2011, when Norwegian welfare authorities removed two young Indian children from their parents.

"I refuse to accept that foster parents can take better care of the child than the natural parents," tweeted Swaraj, who claim to be intervening on behalf of the boy's mother, an Indian national. The father and the child are believed to be Norwegian nationals.

"The foster parents are totally ignorant of Indian culture and our food habits. We want restoration of Aryan to his natural parents," Swaraj said in the tweet.

The child's father said Aryan had been removed from his school without warning on December 13 and was now living in a children’s home outside Oslo. The police later went to the family’s home and interrogated his wife, accusing the couple of beating their son. The father termed the allegation "baseless".

The 2011 case drew widespread media attention in India, much of it critical of the Norwegian authorities, and sparked a diplomatic row. The family blamed it on cultural bias and different attitudes toward childcare. The children eventually returned to India after the parents agreed they should be transferred to the custody of a relative.

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