Nakano and Imran to take daily turns in keeping younger daughter until appeal hearing

Each of the parents will have custody of the 9-year-old child before turning her over to police every 24 hours until Feb 16

Court Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 2 Feb 2023, 09:27 AM
Updated : 2 Feb 2023, 09:27 AM

In a new turn of events in the Japanese daughters’ case, a Dhaka court has said Nakano Eriko and Imran Sharif will take turns between days to keep Nakano Laila Lina, their younger daughter, with them until the hearing of the father's appeal.

Four days after the same court allowed the mother to have custody of both the daughters, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mamunur Rashid gave the order on Thursday, leaving only the elder daughter Nakano Jasmine Malika completely under her mother’s care, Imran’s lawyer Nasima Akter Lovely said.

Following the court order on Jan 29, Imran refrained from giving custody of the 9-year-old Lina to her mother and stopped communication.

It led Nakano to file a general diary with Gulshan police, who picked the father and daughter up from Kalachandpur on Wednesday and produced the accused in court.

Lina said she loved her father and wanted to stay in Bangladesh. Imran said he was worried for Lina as she did not want to live with her mother, but her mother was pressuring her to do so.

Japanese physician Nakano also brought Malika, 11, to the court on Thursday as lawyer Shishir Monir appealed to give custody of Lina back to the mother.

After a discussion with Lina at his chamber upon the girls’ request, the judge said she wanted to stay “either with the father or the victim support centre”.

“She [Lina] doesn’t want to go to Japan, but didn’t say she doesn’t want to stay with her mother.”

The judge then said Lina would stay with her father until 11am Friday before Imran hands her over to Gulshan police.

The mother would have to do the same after 24 hours and this would continue until the Feb 16 hearing of the appeal against the court’s previous decision.

Judge Durdana Rahman of the Second Additional Judges and Family Court will hear the arguments over Lina’s custody.

Earlier, 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 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 course of action would be best for them.

The court in the verdict censured Imran for interrupting their study by bringing them to Bangladesh without warning from Japan, where the girls were doing well and a custody case was already ongoing.

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 said.

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 well-being over the rights to custody in this case.

The father failed to prove that the daughters’ overall well-being would be ensured with him, the court said.