The Appellate Division on Monday ruled that the two children of Bangladesh-born US citizen Imran Sharif and Japanese mother Nakano Erico will stay with their mother till January 23.

A three-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, passed the order following a petition filed by Erico challenging a High Court order.

The court said their father Imran Sharif, can visit his daughters between 9am and 9pm every day during this period.

Advocate Ahsanul Karim and Advocate Shishir Monir appeared for Erico while Lawyer Fawzia Karim Firoze for Imran Sharif.

On November 21, 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 the 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.

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.

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 fom 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.