In Norway, how are kids told not to wet their pants?
By Express News Service - NEW DELHI / HYDERABAD
01st December 2012 09:43 AM
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A file photo of Anupama with her second son Abhiram.
The arrest of Indian couple V Chandrasekhar and Anupama in Oslo has left their family here in Hyderabad wondering how Norwegian children are told not to wet their pants.
Systems analyst Chandrasekhar and his wife Anupama were arrested by the police in Oslo upon a complaint lodged by their sevenyear- old son Sai Sriram’s school.
The boy had mentioned to his teacher that his parents had told him he would be sent back to India if he wet his pants in the school bus again.
“I’ve never heard anything like this. Is disciplining a child by his parents a crime?” asked Chandrasekhar’s brother-inlaw J Srinivas, also an IT pro.
“Only now have I learnt that we can’t even force a child to eat in Norway because it is a crime as per their law,’’ he said. This is the second instance of Indians finding that Norwegian laws take a dim view of tiger mom parenting ways that are the norm in India.
In May this year, another Indian couple, Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, ran foul of the Norwegian Child Welfare Service which took custody of their children, Abhigyan (3) and Aishwarya (4), because they were being brought up in a state of “emotional disconnect”.
That case led to a diplomatic row between India and Norway and brought home to the Indian diaspora the wide gulf between Indian and Western parenting practices.
The case of Sai Sriram too seems headed in that direction with the Indian embassy in Oslo offering consular assistance to Chandrasekhar and Anupama, who were said to be in the process of filing an appeal through a lawyer.
The Indian Embassy in Oslo is in touch with the lawyer and the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Kiran Kumar Reddy has directed the state’s chief secretary Minnie Mathew to lobby the Centre to provide assistance to the couple.
On Friday, the couple’s family in Hyderabad revealed the back story to the arrests in Oslo. Sai Sriram was a student of class II at the Oslo International School and the pant-wetting episode took place several months ago.
His class teacher had recorded the incident in the school diary, upon seeing which Chandrasekhar and Anupama warned the boy that he would be sent back to India if he did that again.
Sri Sriram mentioned the admonishment to his teacher, who informed the school, which informed the Child Welfare Service, the same body that was at the centre of the earlier child custody row.
Its personnel rushed to the school and kept Sriram in their custody for one month. Sri Sriram was examined by doctors and given counselling and then handed back to his parents.
“We thought the issue was closed with that,” said Srinivas.
Last month, Chandrasekhar and Anupama were in Hyderabad along with their children, Sriram and Abhiram, for a vacation. During that visit, he received notices from a Norwegian court to appear before it on Nov. 26 and 27.
Chandrasekhar and Anupama flew to Olso leaving the children at his mother’s house at Jayaprakashnagar in Miyapur.
After the hearing on Nov.28, the Oslo court ordered the couple’s arrest.
For Anupama and Chandrasekhar, a native of Boddapadu village near Gudiwada in Krishna district, this has been a rude introduction to Norwegian law. They moved to the Scandinavian country only eight months ago.
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Comments(7)
This is not the first time. It appears that there is a systematic effort to defame India and Indians in Norway. While accepting Indian IT knowhow, Norwegian TV regularly broadcast nes about slums and Indian poverty.. that too in childrens programme. Indian companies like TATA, InfoSys, Wipro, Accenture etc should give some training to employees about Norway before sending them there. This is necessary to avoid misunderstandings as well as to prepare them for something like this. 33 months for just scolding the child? At most some sort of conselling would have been more than enough. The same Norwegian Legal System sentenced Breivik, the mass killer who killed a total of 77 in July 20122, to preventive detention, a special form of prison sentence, with a term of 21 years and a minimum of 10 years. And he might walk free after 10 years... Shot and killed 68 (mostly teenagers) and another 9 by the bomb he planted. Norway with its massive oill wealth is suffereing from a false superiorit
Posted by Keralaforum at 12/01/2012 14:23 Reply to this Report abuse
Should we judge the Norwegians spare the rod to spoil the child?Are they unaware of the exemplary relationship between parents &children?The Westerners make their babies sleep alone.More or less disown them at Matric(graduation)level.Mutual visits are like the visits of third persons.How can they understand the cane &carrot method of upbringing in India? It is high time that our govt enlighten foreigners,especially the West,of Indian living systems,culture and habits to forestall all such episodes in future.However,exhibiting poverty and slums,as posted in the comment above,can't be faulted.Hiding our ills not-saving fame.Let us eradicate them.Then showers fame.
Posted by KALLAN KRISHNARAJ at 12/01/2012 18:41 Reply to this Report abuse
People from any country, when they visit another country should seek help to understand how they should lawfully behave in the country of their visit. According to the law of the land if that country take action against anyone for breaking their law, it is ethically inappropriate to blame them for doing so, just because such an act may be considered as triviality and not against the law in the visitor/s own country of origin! Sentiments aside, that is the reality!
Posted by Reeshanand at 12/01/2012 19:17 Reply to this Report abuse
Norwegians are actually a kind of tribal people. World knows them well except Indians.. because of higher pay in foreign Indians are venturing to do jobs in those countries. What kind of relationships the Norwegians maintains between, wife and husband, parents and children, aged father&mother to son, daughter, to son-in-law, daughter-in-law etc., mostly the world do not know their culture are their relationships but one can conclude mostly they are tribal culture. In the earlier incident the Government of Norway linked the issue to their cancellation telenor 2G licence by Indian Government. Mostly their laws are outdated because of that only Breivik sentenced light imprisonment. If wife scolds and beats the Husband what would be the sentence the wife gets in Norway?? because it is a regular practice in India !! May be the Norwegians believe they can bend the people in their childish stage to become right persons, how foolish they are, after maturity the genetic picture comes out
Posted by Mahesh at 12/01/2012 19:43 Reply to this Report abuse
Wow, what an outrage at Norway for imposing their laws! If this had been any of the gulf states - Saudi Arabia or UAE - I wonder if the outrage would have been equally strong? Millions of Indians suffer worse atrocities in the gulf and not a word is written by the mainstream media. Yes, Norway's rules may be a bit over the top, but it is their law and it applies all legal residents - something that Indian employers who ferry their workers should learn and educate.
Posted by Patriot at 12/01/2012 22:55 Reply to this Report abuse
Yes,the law is the law and when simpletons interpret it the way they want or deliberately then it becomes oppressive and abusive. That is why there are courts and lawyers to protect people. Commonsense will tell that there is more to this than telling your child that he will be sent back to his home country if he does not improve his bed manners. If sending back to India is such a frightening thing or cruel thing then the opinion about India held by the Norwegians raises questions. If on the other hand if sending back is causing separation which hurts the child emotionally then the Norwegians have done the same thing by isolating the child from the parents. There is definitely something strange here and looks more persecutory than adherence to law or culture or customs. So get smart and show some well founded patriotism.
Posted by magan at 12/02/2012 05:14 Reply to this Report abuse