– I am portrayed as the villain – Dagsavisen

It began in 2006 when Anurup Bhattacharya got a job at an oil company in Stavanger. He came to achieve the Norwegian dream, a life of work in the oil industry.

He had an arranged marriage and eventually his wife Sagarika Chakraborty came to Stavanger with their son and daughter.

– It was an arranged marriage. I saw Sagarika for the first time on my wedding day. The marriage did not go as we expected, says Anurup to Dagsavisen.

He says that his son was born prematurely in India. According to the father, the son had some developmental challenges.

– A report of concern to child protection was the start of a political game, he believes.

– Appeared as an ordinary case

Bhattacharya admits that there were challenges in the marriage, but has previously also said that the cultural differences, such as the mother choosing to feed the children and sleep in the same bed as them, which is very common in India, were used by child welfare services to take the children from them , he says.

This has been rejected by Gunnar Toresen, former head of child protection in Stavanger, to Dagsavisen. Child protection claims that there were other reasons why they chose to take the children away from them.

– During the time the child protection service worked with the family, major conflicts arose between the parents. This resulted in confrontations which led to the police moving out after a disturbance. Children’s services decided to move the children temporarily to an emergency home and then chose to file a case for taking over care. Until the decision in the county board in the autumn of 2011, this appeared to be a relatively ordinary child welfare case, says Toresen.

Several top politicians from both India and Norway became involved in the case after an article in Ny Tid in which the parents told their story was picked up by the Indian media.

Child protection had to find non-traditional solutions to the case.

The solution was finally an agreed agreement between the parties on return to the father’s family. Thus uncle and grandparents in India were given custody of the children. It was agreed that the children could not live with their parents. The district court canceled the care on the basis of a private law agreement registered by the Indian embassy and the children were returned to India in 2012.

– Since 2011, I have not seen my children. This has completely crushed me. For five years I was in depression, and now I live a lonely life here in Stavanger, says the father.

[ Tidligere barnevernsleder om Bollywood-film: – Dette er ikke historien slik den skjedde  ]

Fears trial in India

The couple eventually divorced, and the mother won in court in India and was given custody of the children.

– Today my son is 13 years old and my daughter is 10 years old, says Anurup.

The last time Anurup was in India was in 2009. He says that he cannot travel down to his home country anymore, because he is unsure whether he will be released.

– In India, my ex-wife reported me for harassment. That means that if I travel there I have to go through a court case, says Anurup.

[ Varslerne som ikke ble hørt ]

Denies having beaten his wife

The Bollywood film, which releases on March 17, is based on the child welfare case. In a scene in the trailer, they show the character who plays Anurup beating his wife.

– I have never done that. I have never hit her or my children, he claims.

– I am portrayed as a villain in the film. I want to sue the film company since they portray me the way they do. Nor have they been in contact with me to get my version of the story. The only problem is that I can’t travel down to India, he says.

According to Anurup, several feminist organizations are involved in the case, and he is afraid of how they might affect his case. Not least, the media interest in the case is still very high in India.

– Besides, I’m so broken down that I simply don’t have the energy to do anything anymore. After the trailer came out, I got a lot of messages on social media. I have deleted most of my social media profiles. I can’t bear to explain anymore. I want peace. I just want to say that I never got justice.

[ Hørte ikke på varslerne – nå er mann siktet for voldtekt av en 13-åring: – Hvis de hadde hørt på meg for mange år siden, ville det ikke ha skjedd noe ]

[ Kommentar: Vi lar over 700.000 nordmenn snike i køen ]