Baby Ariha Shah’s repatriation | 59 MPs from 19 parties write to German envoy

In an unusual display of unity, 59 parliamentarians belonging to 19 political parties have written to the German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann, seeking repatriation of Ariha Shah, a two-year-old girl who has been in German foster care since September 2021. A diplomatic spat has broken out between Delhi and Berlin as the government countered claims in Germany that they had tried to identify an Indian family to take care of the child pending a court verdict. 

“India can well look after her own children. We request you to consider how your country would feel if a German baby was forcibly kept with Indian foster care. The Indian government has formally asked the German government of the child’s return to a Jain foster family in India under supervision of Indian child welfare authorities,” the Parliamentarians asserted in their joint letter. The signatories include Communist Party of India (Marxist)‘s John Brittas, Hema Malini, Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi from BJP, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP K. Kanimozhi, Harsimrat Badal from Akali Dal, Supriya Sule from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Priyanka Chaurvedi from Shiv Sena (UBT), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Ram Mohan Naidu and Mahua Moitra from Trinamool Congress, among others.

Ariha was taken away from her parents in September 2021 when she was seven months old by Jugendamt, German Child Services. This was after the child had suffered an accidental injury in the perineum for which she was hospitalised. An investigation was instituted against her parents for child abuse. In February 2022, the police case was closed without any charges against the parents. Despite this the baby was not returned to her parents and the Jugedamt pressed for permanent custody of the child in the German courts. The court-appointed psychologist recommended that the child should be placed with the parent in a parent-and-child facility, with the other parent regularly visiting her. Even though this would be impractical as it would mean a prolonged stay in Germany, it is a recognition that the baby could be with her parents, under supervision. But, before court orders, the Jugedamt had removed the baby to a special needs facility. Ariha is not a special needs child.