The two children of Bangladesh-born US citizen Imran Sharif and Japanese mother Nakano Eriko will stay with their mother, a family court said in its judgment on Sunday.

Durdana Rahman, judge of Dhaka's Second Additional Assistant Judge and Family Court passed the order.

Shishir Monir, lawyer of the Japanese mother Nakano Eriko, said the court dismissed the case filed by Imran Sharif to keep his two children in his custody. So, the two children are going to stay with their mother, and she can also take her daughters to Japan.

The court said it gave this order, focusing on the wellbeing of the two children.

The judge said that the place of residence of the two minor children is Japan and their mother is a Japanese doctor.

Therefore, they will have physical and mental safety if they stay with their mother.

Meanwhile, Japanese mother Nakano Eriko and her elder daughter Nakano Jasmine Malika expressed their satisfaction after hearing the verdict.

Read: 2 kids to stay with Japanese mother until deposal of case at family court

However, Imran Sharif's lawyer Nasima Akhter Lovely said they will appeal against the order.

The two children are not allowed to go abroad until the case is settled, she added.

After 12 years of marriage, on January 18, 2020, Eriko, 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. Meanwhile a Japanese court passed a verdict putting the children under their mother’s custody.

On August 19, 2021 - days after coming to Bangladesh - Eriko filed a writ petition before the High Court here seeking custody of the two girls.

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 Eriko would stay with their father.

However, the mother could 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.

On February 13 last year, the Appellate Division ordered that the custody of the two girls will be decided by the family court and until then the two children will remain with their mother.

Eriko tried to leave Dhaka with her two daughters on December 23.

She was turned away by the police from the airport after she tried to take the children in defiance of court orders.