Making efforts to protect rights of baby in foster care in Germany: MEA

Govt said it was making efforts to ensure well being of 22-month-old girl in foster care in Germany, amid reports about her parents staging protests in Gujarat demanding her immediate repatriation

Government on Friday said it was making all efforts to ensure the well being and protection of the rights of a 22-month-old girl in foster care in Germany, amid reports about her parents staging protests in Gujarat demanding her immediate repatriation.

Responding to questions on the issue, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said the government has been intervening and engaging with the German authorities on the matter for over a year, since September last year.

The Embassy of India, Berlin has also been extending relevant consular assistance to the family. It is also engaging with the German authorities with an expectation of early conclusion of the court proceedings, he said.

Bagchi said the case of the Indian baby currently in foster care in Germany was a sensitive and sub-judice matter.

All efforts are being made to ensure the well being and protection of the rights of the child, he said.

Bagchi said the ministry was conscious of privacy issues and the sensitive nature of the circumstances surrounding the case.

The baby daughter of a Gujarati couple was taken away by German Child Service after she suffered an injury at their Berlin home in September last year.

The couple has been fighting a legal battle for the custody of the child.

According to a website launched by the parents to seek repatriation of their daughter, the baby was hurt when she was under the care of her grandmother.

The baby was taken away from the couple, as per Germany's child protection laws, when they had taken her to a hospital for treatment, accusing the parents of sexually assaulting the baby.

Though the criminal charges against the parents of assaulting the baby were dropped, the baby continues to be in the custody of German Child Service that has filed a civil case for termination of parental rights.