NEW DELHI: The two Non-Resident Indian (NRI) children in Norway who were taken into the custody by that country's Child Welfare Services on grounds of alleged negligence by their parents, returned to India Tuesday.
Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur was at the airport here to welcome three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya along with their grand-parents. The children were accompanied by their Norwegian care-givers.
Abhigyan and Aishwarya, children of Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, had been taken under protective care in May last year.
The siblings were given to their uncle, Arunabhash Bhattacharya, by a Norwegian court in the city of Stavanger Monday, following which the Indian government facilitated their return to India.
The Norwegian court's decision came as a major breather for the Bhattacharya family, which had been trying to get back the custody of the children from their foster parents for nearly a year now.
The Indian government had put in all diplomatic efforts to ensure that the Indian siblings returned to their homeland and grew up in their family environment.
Soon after the children returned to India, External Affairs Minister S.K. Krishna stated that he was "delighted to welcome" them back home.
"They belong to India. They are Indian nationals," he said, expressing the confidence that their uncle "will take care of them in the environment of their extended family in India."
"All is well that ends well," Krishna added.
Krishna also thanked the Norwegian government and his counterpart for his "constructive approach in resolving this humanitarian issue."
He also congratulated the Norwegian judiciary.