Ariha Shah Case: German court dismissed Indian parents’ requests for custody

Ariha Shah Case: German Court Dismissed Indian Parents’ Requests For Custody

In two rulings on June 13, the district court in Pankow, Germany, denied custody of 28-month-old Ariha Shah to her biological parents and handed her over to the German youth services.

The court rejected Dara and Bhavesh Shah’s requests to return the children directly, or at least hand them over to the Indian Welfare Board, ruling that “parents no longer have the authority to decide on the whereabouts of their children.” and ruled on two grounds for injury she suffered in 2021.

It should be noted that on June 3, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had requested German authorities to hand over Ariha Shah’s custody at the earliest, saying she “is an Indian national and her nationality and socio-cultural background is the most important determinant of where her foster care is to be provided.”

Ariha Shah has been living in a foster home in Germany since September 23, 2021, when she was seven months old. At the time, German authorities claimed that Ariha’s parents, Darla and Babesh, had been abusive to her.

Court’s Ruling

The court refused to grant custody of Ariha to the parents or the Indian Welfare Office, instead appointing the Berlin Central Youth Welfare Office as Ariha’s temporary guardian.

The parents initially applied for custody of Ariha, but later withdrew the application and reuested Ariha to be handed over to the Indian Welfare Board, with the intention of placing her in an Ashok Jain-run orphanage in Ahmedabad.

However, the court concluded that parental care was to be opposed so as to “avert the existing danger to the child”, citing two injuries that she had suffered — a head and back injury in April 2021 that occurred while she had a bath, and a genital injury in September 2021.

The court observed that “the mother and/or father (had) intentionally caused the serious genital injuries of the child… and were unable to “explain the events in question in a sufficiently consistent manner”.

Earlier, 59 MPs from 19 political parties jointly sent a letter to the German ambassador to New Delhi, Philip Ackermann, urging him to do everything in his power to get Ariha Shah back to India as soon as possible.