The top court has ordered to dispose of the matter of custody of two children — aged 11 and 9 — by three months in the family court and said that they will remain with their Japanese mother until then.
On Sunday, the five-member Appellate Division bench led by the chief justice gave the order after disposing of a leave-to-appeal petition by the mother, Eriko Nakano.
The court said that the children cannot be taken outside the country and that the they will be in their mother’s custody until the 2021 lawsuit filed by their father is not disposed of in the family court.
It also ordered the family court to dispose of the matter by three months after receiving a copy of the verdict.
The top court also scrapped the High Court’s order giving the custody of the girls to their father, Bangladesh-born US citizen Imran Sharif. He will be allowed to visit his daughters in the meantime, it said.
Imran married Nakano in 2008. The couple had three children.
Three days after Nakano filed for a divorce in January last year, Imran picked up his two eldest daughters on their way home from school and flew with them to Bangladesh. The three have been living here since.
Nakano came to Bangladesh from Japan in July last year to try and regain custody of her children. The legal battle has stretched on for months.
On November 21 last year, the High Court decided that Imran would have custody of the two girls he had brought to Dhaka from Japan. He was, however, required to allow their mother to meet with them in private.
Nakano challenged the decision, taking the matter to the Appellate Division.