Couple reunited with daughter in India

Parents were detained in psychiatric ward after apparent magic-mushroom-induced attack.

mother father baby india (photo credit: Channel 10)
mother father baby india
(photo credit: Channel 10)
A court in Varanasi, India, on Tuesday ordered the release of two parents who had been separated from their two-year-old daughter for five days and forcibly detained in a psychiatric hospital. The Israeli father and Finnish mother were reunited with their daughter. Despite questions over their mental state, they are now free to leave the country with their daughter. The court avoided a potentially bitter legal battle with the couple's families over custody of the toddler. On Monday, the girl's Israeli grandfather and uncle arrived in Varanasi and met with her. She was being cared for by Israeli backpacker Zohar Matalon since her parents were detained. The toddler's Finnish grandmother arrived in Varanasi Tuesday morning. The two sides agreed that the parents' disturbed mental state made them unfit to care for the little girl. The parents apparently had eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms. During his mental fit, the father reportedly tried to harm his daughter, but local residents intervened and the couple was taken to the local psychiatric hospital.