The High Court has ruled that Jasmine Malika and her youngest sister will be with their Japanese mother Nakano Eriko, while the second daughter, Laila Lina, will be in the custody of her Bangladeshi father Imran Sharif.
The High Court bench of Justice Mamun Rahman also stated that the Japanese mother can now return to Japan with her elder daughter if she wishes.
Senior lawyers Barrister Akhtar Imam, Barrister Rashna Imam, and Advocate Nasima Akhter Lovely represented Imran Sharif in court. Barrister Ajmalul Hossain KC and Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir appeared on behalf of Nakano Eriko.
In the verdict regarding child custody, the court granted Japanese citizen Eriko Nakano the option to reside in Bangladesh or any other country with her elder and youngest daughters. Nevertheless, their father, Imran Sharif, will have opportunities to visit his children.
Similarly, the younger daughter, Laila Leena, will have the chance to see her Japanese mother, even though her father, Imran Sharif, will be with her.
It is noted that in 2008, Japanese doctor Nakano Eriko and Bangladeshi-American citizen Sharif Imran (58) married under Japanese law and started to live in Tokyo. Over the course of their 12-year marriage, they welcomed three daughters, all of whom attended the American School in Japan in Chofo City, Tokyo.
On 18 January 2021, Sharif Imran and Eriko Nakano divorced. Three days later, on 21 January, Imran filed a petition with the authorities of the American School in Japan to take away his daughter Jasmine Malika. However, the school authorities rejected Imran's request as Eriko did not consent to it. Subsequently, on a day when Jasmine Malika and Laila Leena were returning home in school bus, Imran picked them up from a bus stop, and took them to a rented house. From there, he moved to Bangladesh along with his two daughters, while the younger daughter remained with Eriko in Japan.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic in July 2021, Eriko Nakano traveled to Bangladesh to take her daughters back to Japan.
