Oslo books AP couple, Delhi stays away

Oslo books AP couple, Delhi stays away

TNN & AGENCIES

New Delhi/Hyderabad: India has ruled out intervening in the case of an AP couple, arrested in Oslo for allegedly scolding their son for wetting his pants. TCS techie V Chandrasekhar and his wife, Anupama, have been slapped with criminal charges and remanded in judicial custody.
    Prosecutors have charged the couple with “gross or repeated maltreatment” of their children by “threats, violence or other wrong” and proposed a minimum sentence of one year and six months for Chandrasekhar and one year and three months for his wife. In Delhi, officials said on Saturday that consular access had been provided to the AP couple.
    Now, the government will wait for the outcome of the court case before deciding course of action, if at all.
    Earlier, the family of the accused couple had sought government help to secure their release. On Saturday, foreign ministry officials said a counsellor from the Indian embassy had met the Chandrasekhar and his wife and helped them find a lawyer. Reports from Oslo said the couple have had problems with Norwegian authorities over child abuse allegations even in the past, one reason New Delhi has decided to be cautious.
    “In any case, the judgment in the case will be pronounced on Monday. Let’s wait and see; it is purely legal now,’’ a source in Delhi said adding there’s no question of India taking up the matter with Norway through diplomatic channels. The couple was arrested apparently because the police feared that they could flee to India to escape prosecution.
    Chandrasekhar works for software giant TCS, which deputed him to Oslo 18 months ago to handle a project. He took his wife and two sons with him. His older son, seven-year-old Sai Sriram, allegedly told his teachers that his parents had “threatened” to send him back to India unless he changed his ways, the software engineer’s nephew, V Sailender, said in Hyderabad.
TROUBLE AT HOME V Chandrasekhar and Anupama accused of “gross or repeated maltreatment” of their child by “threats, violence...”
Couple had allegedly “threatened” 7-yr-old son that he would sent back to India if he wet himself in school
If charges stand, minimum sentence of 18 months for techie, 15 months for wife Oslo couple arrest: Kin meet CM
Hyderabad: The worried family members of Chandrasekhar told STOI that during the conversation he inquired about his two sons -- Sriram and Abhiram. He also told them about the conditions at the Oslo jail.
    “Chandrasekhar said he is fine, but neither he nor we have any information about Anupama. Through some Indian diaspora in Oslo, we came to know that she has gone into depression after the unexpected sequence of events,’’ L Veerabadra Rao, Anupama’s father, said.
    The family members met chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday and requested him to help the couple return to India. However, sources said the chief minister failed to give them any assurance and promised to look into the issue. “CM gave us a very brief audience as he was busy
with Telugu Mahasabha arrangements. He told us that a lot of procedures were involved in the issue and directed the officials to take our representation,’’ a family member said.
    The arrested techie’s kin also faxed a letter to Union overseas affairs minister Vayalar Ravi requesting him to explain to Norway authorities about the cultural differences between India and other countries.
    V Satyanarayana and Veerabadhra Rao, parents of the arrested couple, in the letter said: “Sriram was counselled by his parents as per Indian culture and values.”
    “Both Sriram and his younger brother Abhiram are crying to see their parents… they are not eating food. So, we request you to interfere in this issue and take necessary action,'' Veerabadhra Rao said in the letter. He also narrated the sequence of events that led to the arrest of his daughter and son-in-law, who went to Oslo on deputation by TCS.