The Andhra Pradesh couple arrested in Oslo for trying to “discipline” their seven-year-old son will face imprisonment if they are found guilty of the charge of child rights violation.
The prosecution has proposed a minimum term of 15 months for mother Anupama and 18 months for father V. Chandrasekhar for “gross OR repeated maltreatment” of Sai Sriram, a PTI report from Oslo said.
Nine months ago, the boy told his schoolteachers that his parents had threatened to send him back to India if he did not stop “bed-wetting” and “urinating in school and on the road.”
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The judgment is to be delivered by an Oslo district court on Monday and Mr. Chandrasekhar and Anupama, hailing from Hanuman Junction of Krishna district, may well be jailed, said a police statement. The Court of Appeals in Oslo is hearing the defence appeal before pronouncing its verdict.
Meanwhile, A. Kalyan Chakravarthy, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, who has been treating Sai Sriram for the past few months, said the boy suffered from mild to moderate Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. “While he is weak owing to insufficient nutrition and is also emotionally high-strung, he is showing signs of improvement. All he needs is to be with his parents now,” the doctor said, adding he had sent a report on the boy’s condition to defence counsel. Achyuta Rao, president of the Andhra Pradesh Child Rights Association, said while he appreciated the Norwegian government’s mechanism and law to protect the welfare of children, this was clearly a case of abuse of child rights. “The boy has to be given back to his parents.”