Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. Norway is a Hindi legal drama movie written and directed by Ashima Chibber. It tells the story of what happened to Aniruddha and Debika Chatterjee, an Indian couple living in Stavanger, Norway. After false accusations of child abuse, Norwegian Child Welfare Services takes their two young children, Shubha and Shuchi, and puts them in foster homes. So, Debika goes on a hard journey to get back her children, whom she loves. The Rani Mukherjee movie is based on the true story of Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya, whose children were taken away from them by the Norwegian government in 2011. Here’s what we found out if you want to know more about them and where they are now.
Who Are Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya?
Geophysicist Anurup Bhattacharya married Sagarika Chakraborty in 2007 in Kolkata, India. After living in Stavanger, Norway, for a year, the woman got pregnant with their son, Avigyan, and went back to India for a year. After the baby was born, Sagarika took him with her and moved to Norway in 2009 to live with her husband. Around 2010, when she was expecting their second child, she and her husband put Avigyan in kindergarten. Anurup had to work long hours, so the little boy and his mother were alone for long periods of time.
Surprisingly, Avigyan reportedly began exhibiting strange, autism-like symptoms during this time and would often bang his head on the ground to express frustration. He also had trouble talking to people the right way and avoided making eye contact. Sagarika was very pregnant, so it was getting harder and harder for her to talk to her son. At the same time, the kindergarten started warning the Child Welfare Services (CWS). In Norway, the rules about parenting and child care are very strict and often don’t work well with the ways of parenting that are common in other countries.
Avigyan’s behaviour problems got worse after Sagarika had her daughter, Aishwarya. As he got more angry and demanded attention, his mother had a hard time taking care of all of the kids and doing the housework. Officials at CWS were apparently worried about this, so they made Sagarika go to counselling. A social worker named Michelle Middleton was also sent by the agency to check up on the Bhattacharyas and see how well they were doing as parents.
Michelle’s rude and intrusive behaviour made Sagarika feel uncomfortable, and the fact that Michelle didn’t speak much Norwegian didn’t help much. In the meantime, the CWS was worried about certain things the Bhattacharyas did, like feeding the kids by hand or letting them sleep in the same bed as the parents. Even though this is common in Asian cultures, the agency decided to take action against Sagarika because they said she was a bad mother.
Also, Avigyan was said to have been given a diagnosis of attachment disorder in March 2011, which made the situation worse. Later, his parents said they didn’t know about any of this and hadn’t been told about the evaluation and diagnosis. On May 11, 2011, things took a shocking turn when Sagarika left her two-year-old son at kindergarten and went back home to meet with social workers. Following a sudden argument, she was escorted outside for a walk as the CWS officers took four-month-old Aishwarya away.
Soon after, Sagarika and Anurup got a call telling them that the Norwegian government had taken their children away from them and given them to the CWS. This made them very sad. A tumultuous struggle between the Bhattacharyas and the Norweigan authorities followed, wherein the horrified parents fought tooth and nail to get their beloved kids back home. In November 2011, the local county committee sided with the CWS and put the children in separate foster homes until they turned 18.
Sagarika and Anurup could only see each other for three one-hour visits a year, and the case got a lot of attention in India. The couple’s marriage started to go bad, and they decided to get a divorce. Sources say that Anurup even said that Sagarika had mental issues and shouldn’t have been a parent. In February 2012, Avigyan and Aishwarya were given to their uncle, Arunabhash Bhattacharya. This happened after a lot of diplomatic talks between the Indian and Norwegian governments.
Arunabhash, a dentist who wasn’t married, helped bring the kids back to India, but things got bad when Anurup and Sagarika fought over who would take care of the kids. For a year or so, the latter faced a lot of hostility from her husband and in-laws, who were hell-bent on keeping the kids with them. So, Sagarika went to the Burdwan Child Welfare Committee in West Bengal, India, and said that Anurup and his parents were not taking good care of Avigyan and Aishwarya or letting her meet them. In January 2013, after a lot of thought, the Calcutta High Court gave the children to their mother.
Where Are Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya Now?
Sad to say, the police didn’t let Sagarika see her kids right away. She didn’t see them again until April 2013. She ended up moving back in with her parents in Kolkata, West Bengal, and raising Avigyan and Aishwarya by herself. Reports say that Anurup went back to Norway and kept working as a geophysicist. He seems to like his privacy and hasn’t told the public much about himself. It’s also not clear if he still talks to his children. Sagarika, on the other hand, signed up for a Master’s in Computer Applications.
The mother of two has also written a book called “Journey of a Mother,” which she plans to publish soon. In 2022, Sagarika Chakraborty moved to Noida, India, for a year to work in an MNC. Even though the kids live with her parents in Kolkata, they don’t seem to be out of the woods yet. According to his mother’s parents, Avigyan, who is 14 years old, is still getting help for his learning disabilities and often has night terrors because of his trauma. His sister is now 12, and even though she has fewer problems in school, the problems in her family have a big effect on her.
“When my grandson moved in with us, he mostly just laid on the floor and didn’t say much. He was given medicine, talked to a counsellor, and had speech therapy. In an interview, Sagarika’s mother said, “He has been through a lot of trauma and has not yet healed.” She also said, “Our fight goes on. It’s not over yet. Our grandson still gets night terrors. He takes medicine and sees a counsellor. Our granddaughter is doing fine, but he still hasn’t gotten over what happened.” As of this writing, Sagarika has chosen to be private. We hope that the family can heal together and have a bright future.
