Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a family court in Dhaka to settle the issue of custody of the two children, who came under discussion due to a dispute between a Bangladeshi father and a Japanese mother, within three months. Till then the children will be with their mother, Nakano Eriko.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after dismissing a High Court that handed over the custody to the children’s father, Imran Sharif.
The apex court directed the 2nd Additional Family Court in Dhaka to settle the dispute over custody of the two children within the three months after receiving the apex court order.
However, the father can be allowed to meet the children at a convenient time, said the Appellate Division adding that the children cannot be taken out of the country before settling the issue.
According to the lawyers, Nakano Eriko is staying with two children in a residential hotel in Gulshan of the capital.
Earlier, on November 21 last year, the HC directed that the two children will stay with their father Imran Sharif, a Bangladesh-born US citizen.
Delivering a verdict on a writ petition, the High Court said Eriko can meet the children, Jasmine Malika (11) and Laila Lina (9), three times a year. She can meet her daughters for 10 days at a time exclusively and Imran will bear her travel expenses, the court said.
Eriko can also meet her children at any other time at her own expense, as she lives and works in Japan, the HC observed.
However, Nakano Eriko appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the High Court decision. After hearing on the appeal petition filed by the Japanese mother the apex court passed its order on Sunday.
On July 18, Eriko, a doctor based in Tokyo, came to Bangladesh and filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking a directive on Imran Sharif to hand over the two children to her custody.
Nakano Eriko, in the petition, said that she and Sharif got married on July 11, 2008 in Japan under Japanese law. They have three daughters Nakano Jasmine Malika (11), Nakano Laila Lina (9) and Nakano Sonia Hana (7).
On August 19, the HC bench directed Imran to produce his daughters before it on August 31. But before that, the Criminal Investigation Department of Police took the children into their custody on August 22.
On August 23, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman said the girls will remain at a centre till the August 31 hearing.
The HC bench on August 31 directed the authorities concerned to move the two children of Imran and Eriko to a residence in the capital’s Gulshan from a victim support centre to ensure a family environment for them.
On September 16, the HC gave the responsibility to their lawyers for reaching an amicable settlement. But, they failed to reach an agreeable solution through negotiation. Finally the High Court on November 21 delivered its verdict.
