Court in New Jersey dismissed ‘neglect’ case against parents.
Bureau Report
NEW YORK: Indrashish Saha, an 18-month-old boy from West Bengal, who was taken into custody by the Child Protection Services after his parents were accused of neglect, has been reunited with his maternal grandmother in India, after a court in New Jersey gave her custody.
Saha arrived at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata with his uncle Bhaskar Kundu and was handed over to Pragati Basak — the child’s maternal grandmother.
“We are so happy to have him back. There was no neglect on the part of his parents. We strongly feel the US authorities needlessly took away the child from his parents,” said Pragati Basak to reporters.
Indrashish was taken into protective custody after he suffered a head injury on August 9 last year. The access to the child by his parents, Pamela and Debashish Saha — a New Jersey-based couple from West Bengal — had also been limited.
The parents had admitted the child to hospital with injuries to his head. The parents claimed he had fallen off the bed. Authorities however, claimed the injuries were deliberately caused and the boy showed signs of the shaken baby syndrome.
Debashish Saha then moved court which ruled on February 14 that the child would be handed over to the grandparents who are residents of Gangarampur in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal.
The court, while dismissing the case, also allowed the mother to appeal against the allegation of the New Jersey authorities.
According to the grandparents of Indrashish, the parents did not press for custody in the US court as that would have required him to remain in interim foster care for a much longer period, reported NDTV.
Progati Basak issued a statement in Kolkata thanking the Ministry of External Affairs, the West Bengal government and activists in both India and U.S. for their support in the repatriation of the child, said The Hindu.
“To avoid any misrepresentation of the case, we wish to clarify that no criminal case was ever brought against the parents and the father was not even at home at the time Indrashish got injured,†Basak said in the statement.