Mumbai's Jain Community Ready To Foster 4-Year-Old Ariha Shah If Germany Hesitates To Return Child To Parents

Mumbai: The Jain community has urged the German authorities to hand over the four-year-old Ariha Shah to the community, if the authorities are not satisfied with handing the child to her parents. The community is afraid that the child’s possession will be taken over by Germany if she stays for another year in foster care.

On Friday, members of the Jain community met the Consul General of Germany in Mumbai and requested to fast-track Ariha’s case. The child was only seven-months-old in September 2021 when she was sent to a foster care by the German authorities due to allegations of physical abuse. Efforts are being made since then through diplomatic channels to provide her custody to her parents but have not succeeded.

Worried about the child’s possession to be taken over by Germany from the foster care after another year, the Jain community has again started to actively pursue the matter. A delegation from Shree Mumbai Jain Sangh Sangathan, an association of all the Jain religious groups in Mumbai, including Maharashtra’s cabinet minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha met the German Consul General in Mumbai Achim Fabig and requested him to help the community with the matter.

While the Jains have accused Germany of violating Ariha’s social, cultural and linguistic rights by keeping her away from her parents and community, the community has announced that it will look after the child if the authorities are not satisfied with handing her to her parents Dhara and Bhavesh Shah. It has also requested Germany to carry out a survey of the community’s facilities to assure themselves of the child’s comfort and safety.

Nitin Vora, convenor of Shree Mumbai Jain Sangh Sangathan, said, “We requested the Consul General to convey our message to send a surveyor to India and find out whether we are capable of keeping the child properly. They can prepare their report deciding whether the community and the country are capable of looking after the child. He has assured us of conveying the message to the German authorities.”

The Jain community has been trying to acquaint Ariha with her cultural identity by organising special Jainism-influenced activities for the child in foster care. In October 2024, the community received approval from the German Child Services to allow Ariha to celebrate Paryushan, one of the most important festivals in Jainism. A Mumbai-based Jainism teacher had travelled to Berlin where she taught the foundational prayers of Jainism, recited stories of Girnar and Palitana pilgrimage to Ariha, and introduced her to Lord Mahavir and Lord Parshvanath through pictures.

The members of the Jain community have also been participating in a campaign where several people observe fast daily praying for Ariha’s return. Similarly, multiple people across the globe recite Navakar Mantra for her return.

Ariha’s parents and the Jain community have reiterated that her physical injury was a result of a fall from the bed due to her grandmother’s mistake. The charges of physical abuse against her parents were later dropped and changed to negligence before the case was finally dropped in February 2022.

However, the child continues to remain in the custody of German authorities who have filed a civil custody case to terminate the parental rights. The case is being legally challenged by the child’s parents who currently reside in Thane’s Mira Bhayandar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in October 2024, to which the latter had assured that he is closely monitoring the issue. It has been 44 months since Ariha has been in the German custody and her parents and the community consistently try to get their daughter back.