Testifying before a Congressional committee on behalf of all Indian-American parents whose kids have allegedly been abducted in India and have been fighting legal battles in courts for the past several years, Ravindra Parmar requested lawmakers and the US government to send a strong and clear message to abductors and Nation States who continue to harbour them.
"We urge our government to deliver the same kind of justice for our children who are victims of this terrible crime; including Albert, Alfred, Archit, Siva Kumar, Reyansh, Nikhita, Abdallah, Ishaan, Indira, Trisha, Pranav and dozens if not hundreds of other American children currently in India," Parmar said in his testimony.
Referring to the recently passed Goldman Act, Parmar said the US Department of State now has the tools to use them urgently and effectively to bring the children back.
"We are asking for ACTION! We are asking that you BRING OUR KIDS HOME!" he said.
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According to Parmar, 86 per cent of all active cases of abductions to India have been open for two years or more and 51 per cent of all active India related cases have been open for five years or more.
Parmar rued that the US government has not shown enough commitment in helping its citizens get their kids back.
"How many hearings will it take before we can see American children being returned from countries like Brazil, India and Japan, who have either failed to recognise parental child abduction as a crime or disregarded international law and their own legal treaty obligations?" he asked.
"We are not demanding any special favours from our government. But when parents are being left behind twice, once by the abductors and then by our own government, to fight a State machinery in another country, without direct and sustained US Government intervention, it is no coincidence that for every Sean Goldman, there are hundreds of Reyansh Parmar," he said.