Anurup Bhattacharya and his wife came to public attention for fighting the Norwegian foster care system to regain custody of their children. The authorities took their children away from them, citing “bad upbringing.”
Wiki/Biography
Anurup Bhattacharya was born in Kolkata. In 2003, he completed his M.Tech in Geophysics from Banaras Hindu University.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′10″
Weight (approximately): 90kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family and caste
Anurup belongs to a Hindu Bengali family.
Parents and siblings
Anurup’s father’s name is Ajay Bhattacharya and his mother’s name is Krishna Bhattacharya.
Anurup Bhattacharya’s father and mother
He has a brother named Arunabhas Bhattacharya who is a dentist.
Anurup’s brother’s photo
wife and children
Anurup Bhattacharya married his wife Sagarika Bhattacharya in 2007.
Anurup and Sagarika’s wedding photos
The couple has two children, a son named Avigyan born in 2008 (age 16 years; as of 2023) and a daughter named Aishwarya born in 2010 (age 14 years; as of 2023).
Anurup and Sagarika’s children
The couple has been divorced since 2012.
Profession
While in college, he served as a senior research scholar with the National Geophysical Heat Flow Research Fellow and participated in an Indian government project to delineate legal continental shelves in NCAOR seismic gravity and magnetic studies. He then worked as a geoscientist at Schlumberger Information Solutions until 2010, when he moved to Norway with his wife. Since 2010, he has been working as a senior geologist at Landmark Graphics.
Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS) Controversy
In 2007, Anurup Bhattacharya and Sagarika Bhattacharya moved to Norway. However, the family was reportedly placed under surveillance by child welfare agencies for months. In May 2011, authorities removed their children (Abhigyan, 3 years old at the time of the incident, and Aishwarya, 1 year old), citing concerns about their parenting skills.
Norwegian foster home for Bhattacharya’s children
The accusations included objections to Sagarika’s hand-feeding of babies and children sharing their beds with their parents, a common practice among Indian families. Parents were also accused of providing their children with inappropriate clothes and toys and not giving them enough space to play. Additionally, Sagarika was accused of slapping her child, although it was only a one-time incident. Child welfare services, also known as Barnevernet, are responsible for protecting children in Norway and enforce strict rules regardless of a family’s cultural background. Mild slaps are considered illegal and the organization provides assistance in the form of counselling, counseling services and assistance measures, including external support links, relief measures and day care services. The Bhattacharyas are undergoing counseling services, which they claim to have received. The custody of the children was transferred to Anirup Bhattacharya’s brother following a diplomatic dispute and clashes between the parents and officials. Eventually, the children were allowed to go home with their mother. The incident also triggered a diplomatic spat between India and Norway.
Facts/Trivia
- Anurup filed for divorce in 2012. According to sources, Anurup Bhattacharya has claimed that his wife is suffering from severe mental illness. He reportedly said he had previously withheld the information to gain custody of the children.
“It wasn’t just cultural bias that prompted child welfare services to take action. My wife had severe psychological problems. She was very immature, like a teenager, and all this media attention was thrown at her. .I tried to protect her and follow her orders but I was so shocked last night that I have now moved out and am seeking a legal separation. This is not the first time this has happened to Sagarika. Attacked me,” Anurup said.
- Anurup also claimed that the children were traumatized by returning to their mother and talking to him over Skype for hours.
- Avjian reportedly showed autism-like symptoms in his early years, so he was sent to a kindergarten close to his family’s home. After his children returned to India in 2011, he claimed that foster care had worsened his son’s mental condition. Anurup claimed that his son’s head-banging behavior increased after he returned from foster care.
“I’ve noticed that Abhigyan’s head-banging has gotten worse. He’s become more stubborn and stubborn than before. Yes, he does make eye contact now. But he’s also started hitting his sister, which he was never doing before. Something that hasn’t been done before,” he said in an interview.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education