India asks US to address parents' concerns in custody case

New York, Sept 11: Indian authorities have requested the US State Department to address the concerns of an Indian couple, who have been given limited access to their one-year-old son after he underwent surgery for brain injury and are facing criminal probe for failing to take proper care of him.

The Consulate General of India here has taken up with the US authorities the case of the child, Indrashish Saha, son of Kolkata natives Debashish Saha and Pamela Saha.

The boy is currently in Children's Specialised Hospital, New Brunswick in New Jersey, and is being treated for injuries he sustained after he apparently fell from his bed at home last month.

Morris Country Prosecutors Office is also conducting a "criminal investigation" against the Sahas on how their son sustained the injuries. According to a complaint filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, the court has determined that the "removal of the child is necessary to avoid an ongoing risk to the life, safety or health of the child."

Indrashish is currently under the custody of child welfare services and the Sahas have been allowed to visit him only once a week under the supervision of the division or a division approved supervisor. Saha conveyed to the Consulate General his concerns as well as those of his family "that the child has not yet been handed over to them," a Consulate statement said.

"The Consulate General has requested the US Department of State (Office of Foreign Missions) in New York to have the concerns of the parents addressed. The embassy of India in Washington has also taken up the matter with the US Department of State," it added. Saha's wife had told the doctors that her son fell off the bed while playing and his head hit the floor, after which he became unconscious.

PTI