By IANS,
Kolkata : The child welfare services in New Jersey, which had taken over the custody of one-year-old Indrashish, have agreed to hand over the child to a “bona fide guardian”, his grand father said here Tuesday.
“My son (Debasish Saha) has told me from New Jersey that the US authorities have agreed to hand over the child to a ‘bonafide guardian’. They have urged the ministry of external affairs (MEA, India) to suggest the name of the appropriate person who can take the custody,” Nirmal Saha said.
Indrashish was taken into protective custody by US authorities after the child suffered a head injury Aug 9. The access to the child by his parents — a US-based Indian couple from West Bengal — has also been limited.
The US authorities have urged the Indian external affairs ministry, to verify through an NGO or an agency the person most suitable among the family’s friends and relatives to be given custody of the child, he said.
Saha said that his son had suggested names of four relatives before the Court in New Jersey where the matter is being heard.
“It appears that after the US authorities get any response from MEA then only they would decide on who is the most suitable person to be given the custody of the child,” he said.
Saha is among the people who can take the child’s custody as suggested before the court in New Jersey. He had expressed his willingness to go to the US and take custody of his grandson.
Saha had met President Pranab Mukherjee and wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the external affairs ministry seeking their intervention in the matter.