The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday ordered disposal of the case within three months over the custody of the two children of Bangladesh-born US citizen Imran Sharif and Japanese mother Nakano Erico at family court.

A five-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after hearing a petition.

During this period, the two daughters will stay with their Japanese mother Nakano Erico in Bangladesh.

Imran Sharif, the father of the two children, can meet them but can’t go outside the country.

Advocate Ajmalul Hossain QC, Advocate Ahsanul Karim and Advocate Sishir Monir stood for Erico while Advocate Fida M Kamal, Fawzia Karim Firoz and Anir R Haque stood for Imran.

On January 23, the Appellate Division  ordered that the two children will stay with their mother till February 6.

On November 21, 2021  the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman ruled that the Japan-born daughters of Imran and Erico will stay with their father.

However, the mother can exclusively meet the daughters, aged 11 and 10, three times a year for 10 days at a time and Imran, the father, will bear her travel and accommodation expenses, said the court.

If Erico wants to meet her children beyond the court-prescribed time she has to do it at her own expenses, the court said.

Imran was also instructed to allow the children to talk to their mother on video calls twice a month on holidays.

Following a writ petition, the High Court also ordered Imran to give Tk 10 lakh to Erico for the expenses she incurred to travel to Dhaka and stay here for seven days.

READ: SC: 2 Japan-born girls to stay with Japanese mother for 2 days

The concerned social service officer was directed to continue monitoring the development regarding the children and submit a report to the Registrar of the High Court on the issue of children every three months.

However, the high court rejected the writ petition filed by Imran seeking order to produce their third and youngest daughter, who is in Japan.

On December 5, Erico filed a petition with the Appellate Division challenging the High Court order.

After 12 years of marriage, on January 18, Erico, a physician, appealed for divorce from Engineer Imran Sharif over marital dispute.

On January 28, 2021 she also filed a case with a Tokyo family court for custody of their three children.

But on February 21, Imran returned to Bangladesh with the first two girls from Japan. After that a Japanese court passed a verdict giving the children under their mother’s custody.

On August 19, Erico filed a writ petition before the High Court here seeking custody of the two girls.