Japanese mother gets custody of daughters

A Dhaka family court yesterday granted Japanese citizen Eriko Nakano custody of her two children, putting an end to a lengthy legal battle.

Judge Durdana Rahman of Dhaka's Second Additional Assistant Judge and Family Court passed down the verdict.

She said Eriko could take her daughters Nakano Jasmine Malika, 11, and Nakano Laila Lina, 9, to Japan with her, if she wanted.

The court said it reached the decision, focusing on the well-being of the children.

The same court also dismissed the case filed by Eriko's ex-husband Imran Sharif, a US citizen of Bangladeshi descent, in February last year, seeking the custody of the children.

While delivering the verdict, the court observed that the mother was the only person who looked after her children with care and that the children were safe under her custody.

Moreover, Eriko was a physician, who practised in Japan, and that's why, the children would be safe in her custody, the judge said.

Meanwhile, the other hand, the plaintiff failed to prove that the children would be safe in their father's custody, she added.

In 2008, Eriko married Imran in Japan. They had three children there.

In 2021, Eriko filed a divorce petition with a Japanese court, following which Imran took two of their daughters with him and came to Bangladesh.

Eriko too came to Bangladesh and filed a petition with the apex court for the custody of the children.

On August 31, 2021, the High Court ordered Sharif and Eriko to live at a Gulshan flat together for 15 days with their two daughters.

The court had asked the Department of Social Services to look over the matter and the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police was asked to ensure the safety of the family.

The court finally came up with its order as the estranged couple failed to reach a consensus on where and with whom their two daughters would live, in spite of repeated instructions from the court.

The Supreme Court, however, on February 13, 2022, said, until the disposal of the case by the family court, the two children would remain in the custody of their mother, while their father can visit them in the house.

On January 17 this year, the High Court in the full text of a verdict observed that the children's welfare should be considered first, and law should not be applied in relevant cases without their welfare and wellbeing.