Kids custody row: Govt. puts on hold plan to send EAM official to Norway

New Delhi, Mar 21 (ANI): Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur on Wednesday said the government has put on hold the plan to send a senior External Affairs Ministry official to Norway in connection with the NRI child custody case amid reports that there were differences between parents.

Kaur said the government's involvement in the matter has now been reduced, as it has now become a personal issue between the couple.

"It's a deciding matter for the authorities now that this is happened. Our intervention becomes a little less. The joint secretary was leaving today for Norway but that has been put on hold pending this new development. We can only hope that the best for the children emerges out of this situation," said Kaur.

"We are just going to watch the situation. We have done the best we could do, we have carried on but unfortunately now it has become a personal matter between the husband and the wife. The uncle has also said that he is not willing to take the children. So, let us see what the court decides and what it further proceeds. We can only wish the children well," she added.

Expressing his concern over the situation, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said that it was very regrettable.

"Well, all that I can say is that it is very unfortunate," he said.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said the Indian Government had helped a lot and that the children are the ones who stand to lose the most in the current situation.

"I thank the Government of India for what they did and today if this family is facing this tragedy I think we should look at it with a lot of sympathy. I think the children's interest must be kept foremost and their children's interest lie in they being with the family whether it is with one of the parents or whether it is with the joint family, whether it is the extended family," said Karat.

"But certainly family support I think. Their own country is the best environment for the children," she added.

According to certain media reports, Anurup Bhattacharya, father of the two children has filed for legal separation from his wife Sagarika.

Three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya are presently in the care of Norway's Child Welfare Services.

The Norway authorities had earlier said that the children were taken away as their parents, Sagarika and Anurup, were not taking proper care of them. (ANI)