A Jain Gujarati baby girl, Ariha Shah, who has been in foster care for more than 14 months in Berlin, Germany is making headlines after a petition has created for her repatriation, know her full story, case and parents
As per the official petition, Ariha’s father, who was Indian citizen, were posted in Germany on a work visa as a software engineer. Back in September 2021, the paternal grandmother of Ariha had injured the baby by accident.
Who is Ariha Shah baby being held in Germany, her full story, case, parents and latest update news in 2023
When the parents took her to a nearby hospital, they were accused of sexual assault and as a result the baby was taken from them. A criminal investigation was closed without any charges in February 2022.
Tis hideous despicable insensitive inhumane hypocritic nation hs kidnapped an indian baby girl of 17months old frm her parents nd r feeding her non veg tht too knwing tht child belongs to D jain community tis act is unacceptable nd unforgivable#BoycottGermany pic.twitter.com/ookhfXganc
— Pragney Manoram (@PragneyM) February 23, 2023
Ariha has to be brought back, India's daughter has to be saved @eoiberlin @GermanyinIndia #boycottgermany pic.twitter.com/tt1HTTLy1u
— Shubham Jain (@Shubham16075205) February 23, 2023
However, the baby still hasn’t returned to Ariha’s parents. Berlin Child Services has filed a civil custody case for the parental rights to be terminated.
This case will take upto 2 to 3 years, however, the trial date has not been set yet. The Indian couple are fighting for their 21-months old baby in Germany but they are fearing that the Child Services are dragging the matter in order to take advantage of the “continuity principle,” of child law.
Under the law if a child has spent a significant time with the state appointed caretaker then the child is said to be settled there and should not be returned back to parents, even if they are found to be fit.
The petition claimed that the German Child Services are completely insensitive towards baby’s cultural and religious identity. They are even insisting on a meat diet for her even though she comes from an observant Jain family.
The petition furthermore alleged that the child services are planning to have her adopted to a German family, which is a violation of the UN convention on the rights of the child to which both India and Germany are party.
For these aforesaid reasons the parents are asking for the baby to be repatriated to India and placed her with her maternal family or a Jain family under their care and under the responsibility of Indian child welfare authorities.
According to the family,
We are a Jain family from Gujarat living in Berlin, Germany where the father is posted on work as a software engineer. We are all Indian citizens, including our child.
Our child, a baby girl breast feeding child, has been in the custody of German authorities for the last 8 months (since September 2021). We need your help and support to help get our child to be repatriated to India under the care of her maternal family.
Our daughter was found with a serious injury which parents did not understand and took her to the doctor about. Parents’ were being asked to explain the injury. Initially, parents themselves were confused & did not know what happened. Later the paternal grandmother informed that she had accidentally caused the injury while visiting us the child in Berlin.
The parents’ immediately informed lawyer and the German authorities. The grandmother has submitted a detailed affidavit on what happened in the German Court, details in this link (https://fb.watch/efC1clVOPP/)