Norway child row: Sushma demands family reunion

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday demanded that the five-year-old child, who was separated by Norwegian authorities from his Indian origin parents who have been accused of beating him up, be reunited with his mother and father.

"We want restoration of Aryan to his natural parents. This is our firm stand and Indian Ambassador will convey this to the Norwegian authorities," Swaraj said in a series of tweets.

"Our Ambassador in Norway is meeting the Norwegian authorities today (Tuesday) regarding Aryan," she said.

"I refuse to accept that foster parents can take better care of the child than the natural parents. The foster parents are totally ignorant of the Indian culture and our food habits."

Aryan was taken from his kindergarten school on December 13 without the parents being informed and is being kept at a children's welfare home some 150 km away from Oslo.

His mother Gurvinderjit Kaur was also taken into custody and was subjected to interrogation.

The child's father, Anil Kumar, who runs an Indian restaurant, has denied all the allegations and said that his son was asthmatic.

While the father and son are Norwegian nationals, the mother is an Indian passport holder.

With India saying that it will help if approached, Gurvinderjit Kaur contacted the External Affairs Ministry for support in the case.

This is the third such case in Norway involving Indian children.

In 2011, a three-year-old and and a one-year-old were separated from their parents but were later reunited when the UPA government took up the issue with Norwegian authorities.

In another case of alleged child abuse in December 2012, a seven-year-old and a two-year-old were separated from their parents. The mother got a 15-month prison term and the father was jailed for 18 months.

The two children were sent to the custody of their grandparents in Hyderabad.