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Lawyers say the verdict means the two daughters of the couple will be in their mother’s custody
Published : 29 Jan 2023, 05:34 PM
A family court has dismissed a case filed by Imran Sharif against Japanese national Nakano Eriko over the custody of their two children, capping a long legal battle.
After Judge Durdana Rahman of the Second Additional Judges and Family Court passed the verdict on Sunday, lawyers for both sides said the two daughters will remain in Nakano’s custody.
Imran, an American citizen of Bangladeshi descent, married Nakano in 2008. The couple had three children.
Three days after Nakano filed for divorce in January 2021, Imran picked up his two eldest daughters on their way home from school in Japan and flew with them to Bangladesh. The three have been living here since.
Nakano came to Bangladesh in July 2021 to try and regain custody of her children, for which she mounted a legal battle that has stretched on for months.
On Nov 21, 2021, the High Court decided that Imran would have custody of the two children.
He was, however, required to allow their mother to meet with them in private.
Nakano then challenged the decision at the Supreme Court which turned them over to their mother as Imran failed to follow instructions from the Appellate Division.
The Appellate Division on Feb 13, 2022 ruled that the two children of Nakano and Imran will remain with their mother until a case filed by the father for the custody of the children is settled in the family court.
The court also allowed the father to meet the children in consultation with the mother.
After police barred Nakano at Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport as she tried to leave Bangladesh for Japan with her daughters in defiance of the court's order on Dec 23, Imran filed a case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court.
‘DEPLORABLE’
The judge said in the verdict that she dismissed the case since the plaintiff had failed to prove that the court has the jurisdiction to hear the complaint as the last place of the residence of the plaintiff, the defendant and the children was Japan.
Judge Durdana reviewed the arguments, documents and statements of the girls to determine what will be good for them.
The verdict censured Imran for interrupting their study by bringing them to Bangladesh suddenly from Japan, where the girls were doing well and a legal battle was already ongoing there.
Removing the children from Japan “appears to be a grave and deplorable act for the mental growth of the adolescent girls and it has no possibility of being beneficial to them”, the court observed.
The court pointed out that the Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that motherhood and childhood are “entitled to special care and assistance”.
“Thus, bringing the children over from Japan to this country without informing the mother, who is the primary caregiver of the children, and changing their habitual residence without any legal process appears to be a direct insult to the universal notion of motherhood.
The judge said the court prioritised the children’s safety and wellbeing over the rights to custody in this case.
The father failed to prove that the daughters’ overall wellbeing would be ensured with him, the court said.
After the delivery of the verdict, one of the daughters who was present with her mother said: “We love our Baba [father], but want to live with our mother. We’ll meet him whenever he wants to.”
Shishir Manir, the lawyer for Nakano, said they were satisfied with the verdict. The court observed that the girls arrived in Dhaka from Tokyo not on a trip, but were forced. It also observed the mother can ensure their education, health and safety in their habitual residence.
Nasima Akter Lovely, the lawyer for Imran, said they would appeal the family court verdict.
She argued that although Nakano converted to Muslim before her marriage with Imran, Japan is “not suitable to follow Islamic rules while raising a girl”.
