Battle for custody: Japanese mother appeal’s against HC verdict

Japanese citizen Nakano Erico has appealed against the High Court (HC) verdict that gave custody rights of her two daughters – aged 11 and seven – to their father.

A leave-to-appeal plea seeking stay on the recent HC verdict has been filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC), confirmed Eriko's lawyer Shishir Monir to The Business Standard on Sunday.

"The mother wants custody of the two girls," the lawyer added.

The HC, on 21 November, had directed that the two Japan-born children of Eriko and Bangladesh-born US citizen Imran Sharif will remain with their father. 

But mother Eriko will be able to visit Bangladesh every three months at her convenience and spend at least ten days exclusively with her two daughters, the judgement added.

The HC said that Imran will bear all the expenses of accommodation, food, and travel, to and from Japan three times a year.

Eriko, a doctor by profession in Japan, will have to bear the expenses of staying beyond the stipulated 10 days and additional visits to Bangladesh.

The father was also instructed to arrange video calls at least twice a month between the mother and her daughters.

The court asked Imran Sharif to pay Tk10 lakh to Eriko for her trip to Bangladesh, accommodation, and other expenses in the last few months.

According to the judgement, a social service officer will maintain regular updates on the children and submit a report on their condition every three months, to the registrar of the SC. 

The reports will eventually be presented in court.

In its judgment, the court had said that even if a verdict is given on this writ, it will be considered as an ongoing case. 

If a party encounters a problem at any time, they can appeal to the court.

The court had also ruled that a full verdict would be issued upon the writ petition, citing a detailed order regarding the two children.

The court rejected a writ petition by Imran seeking directives to produce in court their third child who is in Japan.

In their observations, Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman said the verdict is quite heartbreaking and added that the two children will be the biggest victims of the incident.

Eriko, 48, and Imran, 58, got married in 2008 in accordance with Japanese law and had three daughters in their 12 years of conjugal life.

According to Eriko's lawyer Shishir Monir, all three daughters were students at a school in Tokyo. On 18 January 2021, Imran filed for divorce from Eriko and then on 21 January, he appealed to the school authorities to take his elder daughter away.

But the school authorities rejected his plea since Eriko did not agree to that. Then, one day, Imran Sharif picked up his two daughters from the bus stop when they were returning home by the school bus, and took them to a rented home.

On 9 February, Imran came to Bangladesh via Dubai with his two daughters, according to his lawyer's statement on 21 February.  

Following these events, the Japanese mother, on 19 August, filed a writ petition with the HC seeking custody of her two daughters.