A Rajya Sabha member has requested external affairs minister S. Jaishankar to intervene and ensure the return of an Indian girl child born to Gujarati parents and placed in German foster care since she was seven months old.

CPM Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala John Brittas has written to Jaishankar ahead of the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s official visit to India next week.

“The impending visit of the German Chancellor offers a rare diplomatic window to address this deeply distressing issue at the highest political level,” Brittas, the CPM’s leader in the Upper House of Parliament, wrote in his letter.

“A humane and expeditious resolution of” the case during Merz’s visit “would not only bring immeasurable relief to the affected family but would also send a powerful message about the shared commitment of India and Germany to child welfare, family integrity, and the primacy of compassion in state action,” he added.

The girl, now 5 years old, has been in the custody of the German child services agency, Jugendamt, after her parents were suspected of child abuse.

When she was seven months old the child was taken to a hospital in Germany with injuries to her private parts. Suspecting child abuse, the German authorities placed her in foster care and a case was filed against the parents.

“The parents had informed the authorities that the injury sustained to the child was accidental and the subsequent criminal investigation into sexual abuse suspicion against the parents was also closed without charges in February 2022,” Brittas wrote in his letter to the external affairs minister.

“The same German hospital that placed the parents under suspicion of abuse, has since issued a report saying that there was no evidence of sexual abuse and categorically ruled out allegations of sexual abuse by either the father or grandfather,” he pointed out.

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Brittas said a court-appointed psychologist has recommended that the child be placed back with her parents.

“Despite this, the child has not been returned to her parents and the German Child Services persist in seeking to terminate the parents’ rights and have the child adopted within Germany,” the Rajya Sabha MP wrote.

The Jugendamt (Youth Welfare Office) is a local body protecting child rights and welfare, supporting families with childcare guidance, financial support and also guards against child abuse.

Brittas claimed that the child has been moved to five different foster homes in the last five years and her parents are allowed to visit her only twice a month, have been denied telephonic contact with her and the child has been denied from participating in Indian festivals over concerns of “publicity”.

The MP also claimed despite her Jain family roots, the child was fed non-vegetarian food.

The child, he wrote, “is not allowed to engage socially with the Indian community in Germany, nor is she learning any Indian language, despite the availability of bilingual schools.”

The child has done no wrong and cannot be forcibly held in Germany, Brittas emphasised, adding that under the UN International Convention on Civil and Political Rights she has a right to return to India, her country of origin.

Brittas also referred to the former CPM MP Brinda Karat’s reaching out to the external affairs ministry during the UPA days to secure the release of two Indian children held in foster care in Norway.

The father of the girl is a software engineer.

Brittas had written to Jaishankar on the same issue on March 29, 2023.

In the new letter, Brittas has stated that the residence visa provided to the parents is valid for a few more months and urgency is required.

In September 2025, Jaishankar had raised the issue of the girl’s return to India with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also discussed the issue with Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz, during a bilateral meeting in Delhi in 2023.

The girl’s mother had held a sit-in demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in 2023 demanding her daughter be returned to her.

Fifty-nine lawmakers from 19 political parties had written to Phillipp Ackermann, the German ambassador, expressing concern over the child’s safety in 2023 when the girl was two years old.