ગુજરાતી
English
Ahmedabad, January 16, 2026
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Ahmedabad on January 12 and 13 at the invitation of our country’s Prime Minister. During this time, the case of Ariha Shah, a young girl from Ahmedabad, became an international issue. This is because the German government had forcibly kept her in a care center for four years on false grounds.
The German government has sent a bill of Rs. 24 lakh for maintenance and is demanding payment.
The issue of Ariha from Gujarat has been discussed in both the German and Indian Parliaments. However, she has not received justice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed her in Ahmedabad.
Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil has demanded justice for the young girl Ariha Shah from Gujarat.
Ariha Shah, the daughter of a Jain family, was only nine months old when the German government took her away from her family and placed her in a government foster care center. This child has been separated from her parents for four years and is in a German government foster care center.
When Ariha Shah was only 9 months old, her mother was giving her an oil massage and bathing her when the edge of a plastic tub accidentally slipped from her hand and hit her between her thighs. She sustained minor injuries. The girl’s parents immediately took her to a hospital in Germany.
Hospital authorities said that because the injury was to her private parts, a police case would have to be filed as it could be a case of sexual assault. The parents faced a police investigation and received a clean chit from the police. However, the German government said that they did not know how to care for the child. Therefore, the child would have to be placed in a government foster care center. For four years, the girl has been in a German government foster care center without her parents.
Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil had raised the entire matter in the Rajya Sabha a year ago, but despite this, Ariha Shah has not received justice. In Ahmedabad, Modi should now raise the issue of Ariha Shah and ensure that our Indian citizen, Ariha Shah, is released from the German foster care center and handed over to her parents. If necessary, she should be placed not in a German foster care center, but in a foster care center in our own country or under the care of the best people from the Jain community.
How can a daughter from the Jain community, which does not consume onions, garlic, or root vegetables, maintain her culture, religion, and traditions in a German foster care center? If she cannot learn the Jain culture and the Gujarati language, and instead speaks German and adopts German culture, then the future of both the parents and the child will be bleak.
The United Nations Convention clearly states that every child in the world has the full right to maintain their own culture and traditions.
The German government’s gross negligence is evident in the fact that, on one hand, the daughter has been forcibly placed in a foster care center, and on the other hand, a bill of 24 lakh rupees for the foster care expenses until 2024 has been given to the child’s parents. An economic burden is being placed on the family with an additional 55,000 rupees per month for foster care and other expenses.
When such cruelty is being inflicted upon our citizens, our Gujarati daughter, and her family, it is not right for the Chancellor to simply enjoy our hospitality. We request the Prime Minister to take a decisive step to bring our daughter back from Germany and reunite her with her family.
Baby Ariha Shah’s parents are Dhara Shah and Bhavesh Shah. Bhavesh Shah is a software engineer. In 2018, Bhavesh moved to Berlin with his wife Dhara after securing a good job in Germany.
In 2021, Ariha was born. In 2021, Ariha was seven months old. One day, Ariha’s grandmother was playing with her, and the child was accidentally injured.
Then, Ariha’s mother, Dhara, was changing the child’s diaper and noticed blood. Immediately afterward, Dhara took Ariha to the hospital. There, after examining the child’s injuries, doctors alleged that she had been sexually abused, and German authorities then took the child into their custody. Since then, Ariha has been in the custody of the German government, and her parents have been trying to get her back. The Ministry of External Affairs stated on January 12, 2026, that Ariha has been with a German foster family for the past 40 months. The Indian government is in constant contact with Germany. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed the issue with the German Chancellor. Although it was initially a legal matter, it should now be considered on humanitarian grounds.
