the death by suicide of a 40 year old Priya, Shani Patel, who was in a prolonged fight against child services in Australia for custody of her two Children, one of whom was fighting a chronic health condition has brought back into focus cases of Indian origin parents fighting child services abroad. Dani, who hailed from Karnataka Dawa, had returned there to be with her family and there she ended her life. While her death has led to the Australian authorities reviewing the case, activists in New Delhi are demanding much more from both New Delhi and down Under Pratibha. Rahman has this report 40 year old Priya Dash Ling Raj Patel from Karnataka. Darva was found dead in the Mala Praha backwaters in Bega on August 27 and from Australia had been fighting a three year old custody battle for her two Children, who are Australian citizens. Unable to regain custody, she decided to return to India from Sydney to coach her father in dealing with the battle. Instead, she decided to end her life, leaving behind a suicide note blaming the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice and a section of her neighbours for ruining her family and her life. According to activists and the family, Priya Dani and her husband were unhappy with the treatment provided for their son, complained against a private hospital and asked for a transfer. This was refused, triggering the start of a child protection case. Their other child, a major who had nothing to do with this case, was also taken into the government's custody. Six social workers submitted a good report but were replaced by a new worker to escalate matters. The family begged to bring the Children to India, but look out notices were issued at the Australian airports against the family. Activists protested in Delhi and have requested the Australian High Commission to initiate an inquiry into the case and allow the Children to come back. Meanwhile, Union Minister Pra Joshi has promised to contact the Australian government through the Foreign Department. This incident is indeed not the first child custody. Battles fought by Indian parents in foreign countries have been highlighted earlier and the theme has been covered by a recent Bollywood movie, Mrs Chat versus Norway, according to media reports. The Australian High Commission has expressed its condolences and the authorities have reportedly promised to assess whether the custody of the Children can be returned to the father or grandparents with camera person go with Pratima in Bangalore for ND TV. Meanwhile, the Australian High Commission spokesperson, when contacted by IND TV, issued a statement and I quote from that statement. We are greatly saddened by the death of an Australian woman in India. We offer our deepest condolences to the family during this difficult time. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided consular assistance to the women's Australian family. Joining us now is child rights lawyer Surana Ayar, who has dealt with several such cases and has led the campaign in New Delhi. As far as this case, ma'am, thank you very much for taking time to be with us. Can you first give us any sense of an update on this case? As far as what's happening in Australia is concerned, we did try to reach out to the father, but I believe it's very late in Australia and he couldn't join us on the show. But do you have any information as to what next steps or concrete actions that have been taken there down under? Uh, so far as I am aware, no concrete steps have been taken whatsoever. Uh, the request for the Children to be returned to India is quite old. It is made several months before this tragic suicide by and, um uh, you know, there has been no response. Um, So what we are, you know, seeing again and again in these cases is that, uh, the system is not able to respond to the plight of families and particularly of Children. Uh, who are, you know, Either they are of Indian citizens, or they are very newly arrived in the foreign country. They don't understand the ways of their systems there. And once they are, uh, you know, taken away from the parents or as in this case, once the parental rights have been severely constrained, they really have, you know, nowhere to go. And the the the Children are essentially held hostage by the foreign, uh, child services authority. So it's actually worrying There is a cultural issue here. We are going to have a big G 20 meeting here in New Delhi. What do you think needs to be done as steps to ensure there is people to people interaction because while we talk about cases of justice and sometimes sometimes there is also genuine abuse as well, which needs to be acted upon. Look, I mean, you know, there are several things here. India is conscious of the existence of crimes against the child. We are signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And we also have a child welfare system which basically follows the same structures as these foreign child welfare systems. And, uh, this issue has to be looked at in the broader context of how do you respond to wrongs which are done. After all, child abuse is not the only crime or the only deviance. There are all kinds of murderers, rapists, thieves, all kinds. Now, if you can have an international system for the exchange of prisoners, if you can have based on the prisoner connection to the country of origin, if you can have a system where it is taken for granted, that even someone accused of the worst crime in a foreign country will have consular access. And if you take into consideration the basic principle of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is that the family environment is the ideal environment for a child to grow up in for its happiness, security and welfare. Then there's absolutely no reason why such Children cannot be returned to India when the foreign government assesses their parents to be incapable in any way. So that's one aspect. The other aspect is that in case after case, these parents say that the process through which they are subjected is unfair. And I have to say, as someone you know, I receive my legal training in the United Kingdom and the US. That is where I studied about the, you know, public administrative law and constitutional law. And I can tell you, after reading these case workers reports and these family court judgments from all these rich G 20 countries, that their child protection system is deeply unfair and how, hm, We seem to have lost the audio with Messiah there who was talking about very important points there. Her argument was that send them back to India If you have a problem, do not estrange the Children from their families and result in a custody battle for several Indians who migrate over to countries with serious cultural differences. She's also argued that some of them are harassed by child protection services there. We'll keep a close track of that and also update on what happens to the Children in Australia there.
