Not just immigrant families, Norwegian parents and activists are also looking forward to an upcoming Bollywood release to blow the lid on an insidious system that separates children from families not for welfare but profits
Sagarika’s daughter Aishwarya, then one, is carried by her grandmother along with then Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur (pink) on her arrival in Delhi. The Norwegian court gave the custody of Aishwarya and Abhigyan, then three, to their paternal family. In 2013, Sagarika was handed their custody as per the order of the Child Welfare Committee in Burdwan after the CWC seconded he allegations that her in laws had been reluctant to let her visit the children, and they weren’t being looked after. Pics/Getty Images
My son was taken from us when he was a little over three. He is now 13 and in foster care. For the first six years, I was allowed to see him twice a year for a total of four hours. Now it is up to three times in a year till he turns 18. He has developed learning and concentration difficulties and other psychological problems, and has little chance of higher education. By the time he is 18, [I fear] he will not have any social relations,” Ove Dag Knarvik tells mid-day over a video call from alesund in Norway. The retired Norwegian naval architect and marine engineer lost two of his children to Barnevernet or the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, a public agency responsible for child protection in Norway. Barnevernet is the same agency that had back in 2011 taken NRI couple Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya’s children away for “improper parenting”. What followed was an arduous battle for custody, accompanied by diplomatic exchanges between the two countries and widespread media attention. The story is also the basis for the upcoming Rani Mukerji-starrer Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway.
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