The High Court (HC) ordered on Tuesday that one of two Japan–born daughters will stay with Bangladesh-born US citizen father Imran Sharif and another with Japanese mother Nakano Eriko.
Among them, the elder daughter will stay with her mother while the younger one with her father.
Judge Mamnoon Rahman of the High Court`s single bench issued the ruling following the acceptance of a review appeal in this regard.
Barrister Azmalul Hossain, assisted by Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir, defended the Japanese physician mother in court, while senior lawyer Barrister Akthtar Imam, Rashna Imam, and Advocate Nasima Akter Lovely advocated for engineer Sharif.
Lawyer Shishir Monir told reporters that the parents will have access to meet their children.
Earlier on January 29 last year, a Dhaka family court in a verdict ordered that the daughters will stay with their mother.
Durdana Rahman, judge of Dhaka`s Second Additional Assistant Judge and Family Court passed the order.
Later, father Sharif submitted a petition with Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Court challenging the family court order.
On July 16 of the same year, when the District and Session Judge court rejected the father’s appeal seeking his druthers’ custody he submitted another petition with the HC.
The HC passed the order today after hearing.
After 12 years of marriage, on January 18, 2020, Eriko, a physician, appealed for divorce from Engineer Imran Sharif over marital dispute.
On January 28, 2021 she also filed a case with a Tokyo family court for custody of their three children.
But on February 21, Imran returned to Bangladesh with the first two dauthers from Japan. Meanwhile a Japanese court passed a verdict for keeping the children under their mother’s custody.
On August 19, 2021 - days after coming to Bangladesh - Eriko filed a writ petition with the HC seeking custody of the girls.
On November 21, 2021 the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman ruled that the Japan-born daughters of Imran and Eriko would stay with their father.
However, the mother could exclusively meet the daughters three times a year for 10 days at a time and Imran, the father, will bear her travel and accommodation expenses, said the court.
On February 13, 2022, the Appellate Division ordered that the custody of the two girls will be decided by the family court and until then the two children will remain with their mother.
Eriko tried to leave Dhaka with her two daughters on December 23.
She was turned away by the police from the airport after she tried to take the children in defiance of the court order.
