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With the custody row with Norway over two Non-Resident Indian children settled, an Indian mother in Sweden has sought the Indian government's intervention for custody of her 11-year-old son allegedly being held by the Swedish authorities.
Kolkata-based Non-Govermental Organisation India's Smile, which had claimed to
have brought to light the custody row over the two NRI children in Norway, on Wednesday told PTI that the mother, Annie Johansson, informed them that she was inspired by the role played by them in bringing back the two children Abhigyan and Aishwarya to India.
The mother who had settled at Visby in Sweden in April, 2000 contacted them with a plea to the Indian government for custody of her son who was in the care of Swedish Gotland Municipal Social Welfare Committee.
The NGO said that the authorities of Gotland Municipal Social Welfare Committee had allegedly taken away Annie's son, Domenic Johansson in 2009 and placed him in an emergency foster home on the ground that the parents were not taking proper care of him.
The mother alleged that the Swedish authority which had no idea of Indian culture and tradition, held that Domenic was not being reared suitably.
Annie, whose earlier name was Nirmalkumar Bharos, a resident of Pune, married Christer Johansson in India on April 24, 2000. After their marriage, they continued to reside in India.
Annie was pregnant with Domenic when there was a devastating earthquake in the spring of 2001 and the Johanssons family lost everything and decided to migrate back to Sweden.
Domenic was born on Swedish soil on September 9, 2001. The NGO has forwarded Annie's prayer to the National Human Rights Commission chairman, with copies to the
President, prime minister, external affairs minister, minister for overseas Indian affairs, and the home minister. Copies of her plea were also sent to the embassies of Latvia and Sweden.