Dhara Shah, the mother of two-and-a-half-year-old Ariha who has been in German foster care for nearly two years after she was injured in Germany in September 2021, on Wednesday reached out to Indian Opposition MPs to mobilise opinion so that the German authorities can hand over the child to foster parents in India.
Briefing media persons after meeting Dhara Shah, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said they would urge the external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and petition the German ambassador in India to help in Ariha’s early return to India. Saying that foster parents have been identified for the child in Gujarat, Bachchan urged the government to make all efforts to bring Ariha to India.
The Indian foster care option has already been offered to German childcare authorities by the Indian government as Germany will not allow Ariha to be returned to her parents. In an effort to ensure that Ariha at least grows up in her own socio-cultural milieu, the external affairs ministry had identified potential foster parents for the toddler in Gujarat with the request that Germany hand over the child to them under the supervision of Indian childcare authorities.
Shiv Sena (Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said the child’s cultural rights were being violated by Germany’s insistence on keeping her in their foster care system.
Acknowledging the efforts made by the Indian external affairs ministry to bring Ariha back, she said the police case had been closed but Dhara Shah and her husband lost
the parental rights case, even though German experts concede there is no evidence of assault.
Ariha was taken away from her parents on allegations of sexual assault after she sustained an injury and needed hospitalisation. The baby has been in German foster care since September 2021 even though the police case against her parents was closed in February 2022 without any charges being brought against them.
In June, the MEA said that the Indian embassy in Germany had repeatedly requested German authorities to ensure that Ariha’s connection with her cultural, religious and linguistic background is not compromised and sought consular access to the child as well as cultural immersion at the Indian Cultural Centre in Berlin. Further, the ministry said it had urged the German authorities to do all that is necessary to send Ariha to India at the earliest as it is also her inalienable right as an Indian national.
Earlier this year, 59 MPs from 19 parties across the political spectrum had written to the German ambassador urging him to secure her repatriation at the earliest. The issue has also been raised during bilateral meetings, including when the German foreign minister visited India recently.