aditya wrote:
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Dhiman wrote:These two children are under the care of a Bong family who live in norway. "Foster home" here is provided by the Indian family and expenses paid for by Noway government.
Are you sure of this information? Either way, it is safe to assume that the said folks are taxpayers in Norway. If the suggestion is "look how benevolent Norway is", that clearly does not apply as the folks are essentially being paid out of their own money to take care of the kids.
Yes sir, I am sure. Please feel free to cross check any way you like. The issue is not regarding "benovalence of Norway", but whether Norway has and is doing the "right thing". In this case, obviously they are doing the "right thing" as per their laws to which everyone in Norway is subjected to.
aditya wrote:
Dhiman wrote:There is very little GoI can do other than putting these children in government orphanage in India where they will not get even 10% of the care that they receive in norway
Where does the question of a GoI orphanage arise when the kids have several living relatives who can take care of them?
You are obviously not upto date with news regarding this case. The mother is a voilent psycho, the father seems to be a bit normal, but lying through his teeth since the very beginning, and the uncle who was supposed to take custody of the children is flip flopping on whether he wants to take custody. So which "several relatives" are you talking about? The only relatives that I see here is the GoI orphanage or Foster family in Norway. The father himself has been quoted as saying that the Children might be better off in foster care in Norway becuase if the children were to return to India, they would most likely be handed over to psycho mother as Indian laws by default favor child custody by mother.
Secondly, we are not comparing the respective standards of living or quality of care provided by state institutions in the two countries. One can similarly start arguing that some poor daily wager labourer's kid is better off kidnapped by a desperate affluent couple who will bring it up with far more facilities and comfort than the biological parents.[/list]
Well guess what, a lot of life is about being at the right place at the right time and that includes whether you are born rich or poor. So without getting into hypthetical philosphy with you, the practical reality here is that these children are in norway, they are subjected to norway laws, and norway is doing nothing wrong in this case. So if Norway intends to enforce their laws, there is not much GoI can do.
There is definiately scope for negotiation but what kind of deal do you expect GoI to make with norway? The parents are definiatley not taking responsibility, so on what basis do you expect Norway to return these children to India? An agreement with GoI that the children will live in pathetic conditions in GoI orphanages in India? That is certainly not going to fly very high in Norway, is it?
The case is clear. Either the parents are charged with a criminal offence towards their children, or they are not.
The parents have already been charged and convicted in court of child abuse under Norway's laws; hence, their children were taken away from them.
In the latter case, the state has no business intervening with repressive measures,
Firstly, let's not confuse cause and effect here. If the parents would have done even an average job of raising the children in the first place, the state would not have stepped in.
Secondly, every state has the duty to protect people living in that state and this includes citizens, non-citizens, and even illegal residents. The state of Norway here has the will and the resources to carry out its duty to protect the children where parents have obviously failed. We are not at that level in India. The Indian state is hardly capable of preventing child abuse in India, atleast no where near the extent that Norway is capable of doing. But rest assured, if India ever reaches the level of development that Norway is at, you bet your bottom that parents will be hauled into courts for child abuse cases.
There is plenty of child abuse in India, the reason you don't hear about it is becuase the Indian state does not have the resources to persue these cases for the most part. Norway does.
regardless of the intra-familial situation (by those standards, how many broken families in Western countries (and in India) could be considered unfit environments for children?) This is the principle GOI has to stand up for given that its citizens are involved.
This is not about broken families, the case is about "child abuse" and the options that are available to these two children in particular given that their parents are doing a pathetic job of raising the children in the first place.