A family court of Dhaka has set Jan 29 for the delivery of the verdict in a case over the custody of two children of Bangladeshi Imran Sharif and Japanese Nakano Eriko.
According to bdnews24.com, Judge Durdana Rahman set the date on Sunday after both sides presented their closing arguments earlier in January, said Shishir Monir, the lawyer for Nakano.
Imran, an American citizen of Bangladeshi descent, married Nakano in 2008. The couple had three children.
Three days after Nakano filed for a 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 Magistrates' Court.
