NRI children row: Not filing for divorce, says father

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The father of the two Indian children in custody of the Norwegian Child Welfare Services on Wednesday denied reports that he was filing for divorce from his wife.

"There might have been some unavoidable circumstances at home, I am not denying that fact but that does not mean that we are filing for separation or we are filing for divorce. I am shocked to hear this," Anurup Bhattacharya, the father of the kids told a news channel from Norway.

"Whatever our differences are, we are united in our sole principle aim which is to get the children back to India. My brother and Sagarika are determined to get the children back at the earliest," he added.

Abhigyan, three, and Aishwarya, one, children of Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, an NRI couple living in Norway's Stavanger, were taken under protective care by Barnevarne (Norwegian Child Welfare Services) last May on the ground that they were not being looked after properly by their parents.

Grandfather of the two children and father of Sagarika, Monotosh Chakroborty also rubbished reports of divorce between the couple.

"He (Anurup) told me that it (reports of divorce) was a lie and he never said that. Some people are conspiring to keep the kids away from us, we will not leave anybody and do whatever is needed," he said.

"We will agitate at India Gate if needed but we want our kids back," he added.

However, Anurup's father Ajay Bhattacharya had alleged on Tuesday that his son was mulling legal separation from his wife as she suffers from acute schizophrenia.

He said that his daughter-in-law had attacked his son March 19 and badly injured him and that she had been attacking him for long.

Anurup, however, denied the allegations on Wednesday.

Over a month ago, India and Norway struck an agreement under which the parents named Anurup's brother Arunabhash Bhattacharya as the primary caretaker of the two children. Arunabhash Bhattacharya is currently in Norway.

Amid public outrage and protests by opposition parties, India last month had sent special envoy Madhusudhan Ganapathi, secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry, to Norway, to urge Norwegian authorities to find a solution for enabling an early return of the children to India.