Legal Question in Family Law in Bangladesh
Dear Lawyer, I am a Canadian Citizen of Bangladeshi origin. I have a 27 months old daughter who is currently living with her mother in Bangladesh. My wife was supposed to return to Canada after completing her degree program in Bangladesh. Just a brief background - before the wedding, the condition was that my wife would come to Canada to live with me and my family as well as continue her higher studies here in Canada. But after the marriage, while I was in the process of sponsoring her to Canada as my wife and after spending four hundred dollars for university admission application fees in Canada and another 300 dollars for writing her English proficiency exam in Bangladesh to fulfil her English proficiency requirements for a Canadian university admission, my wife changed her mind and said she would like to continue her studies in Bangladesh instead. I asked her, why? She mentioned to me that her cousin, who studied in Canada, said her that education is hard in Canada. She even convinced her parents in this regard. I did not buy her excuses as she is a very good student and scored very well in the English proficiency exam. I had argument with her father but later decided that she would rather stay in Bangladesh to complete her degree so that she would not complain in the future that she could not continue her studies in Canada. That was my biggest mistakes I ever made. I kept sending money for regular maintenance and her education. I was just being generous. However, in the meantime, I went to visit her in Bangladesh and returned and things seem to go well, and she was already one month pregnant. my wife got her immigration visa and arrived in Canada while she was six months pregnant, again everything went well and my daughter was born in Canada. My parents assisted us during the rest of the pregnancy. After one month of the birth of my daughter, my wife started crying and kept pursuing me that she would want to go to Bangladesh to continue her studies as she had the last two years of her degree program. I thought okay, the time will just go by and my daughter will have an opportunity to get the love and affection from her maternal grandparents. So they left upon agreement that my wife would return to me after completing her degree. When my daughter was 7 months old, she came to visit me again with my daughter on my request. I paid for everything. Then after three months she returned to Bangladesh with my daughter with a promise to return to me after completing ehr degree (one year later). I then visited her and my daughter after 7 months in Bangladesh. Just an FYI that my wife stayed at her parents' house the entire time, in Bangladesh. I returned to Canada after three weeks of my visit. Now that she completed her degree program, she is not willing to come back to me anymore. My family and I tried to pursue very hard but failed. She and ehr family are saying that my family and I physically and mentally tortured her, making all kinds of false accusations and giving all kinds of excuses, and therefore would not want to continue the relationship. They had hidden their new address after they moved and refused to give us the address. We were able to locate their current residence with the tips from some people, local city councillor, police (we did not file any police complain but requested assistance) in Bangladesh. We tried to speak with her and her family but they are just completely refusing to sit down and settle the matter. We tried all possible civil ways. I have also sent two notices to my wife to return to Canada and withdrew my parental consent to keep/hold/stay with my child in Bangladesh any longer. In both letters, I clearly mentioned that the child needs her both parents for normal upbringing. I sent e-mails, text messages, phone calls, but nothing worked to change her mind. My wife and her family are even refusing my family to see the child and saying when the child is grown up she will decide whether she wants to go to her father. My daughter is already being brainwashed by her mother and her maternal grandparents. My daughter tells me now that she does not want to come to me, she does not call daddy anymore. She sounds scared to call me daddy as her mother htis her. In fact, my daughter told me that her mother hits her when she calls me daddy. FYI, masha_Allah, my daughter picked up words very fast and she would speak like a 4 y/o child at her age.
Dear lawyer, I need your kind advice on what are my options? I want to get custody of my daughter as she is a Canadian born child. Her mother is a Bangladeshi citizen, not Canadian. I am a dual citizen of Bangladesh and Canada and reside and work in Canada. What are my chances to get custody of my daughter in Bangladesh, as currently the Bangladeshi citizenship can be trasferred through father/grandfather, not through mother. What would be my best route to successfully get custody of my daughter in this case? I am not sure whether my wife already filed for divorce and have the legal custody of my daughter. How do I challenge them to whether they have alrady done so as stated above, as they are strongly saying to us about the laws of Bangladesh? On what point(s) can I argue to successfully get custody of my daughter? They are using my daughter as their only weapon now and they have do not care about my daughter. I stopped sending money as soon as my wife and her family refused to give us their new address. My wife called me once for money but I refused and said unless you give me your address I am not sending a single penny to you. She and her family are very non-cooperative. I became aware that she is already involved with someone and that's why she stayed in Bangladesh even after marriage and the birth of my daughter. Can file a law suit against her and her family in Bangladesh for breach of trust and agreement that were made before and after the wedding? What about the defamation, as her family began defaming us on Facebook? We also became aware that she has connection with Hijbut Tahrir in Bangladesh. I realized that my wife used to talk to me about this organization and said her friends are also involved in it. I warned her to stay away from them as this organization is misleading the Muslims in the name of Islam.
She and her family threatened me earlier, while I was pursuing my wife, to teach me a lesson if I come to Bangladesh and attempt to take my child. I need your kind suggesstion. I want to come to Bangladesh and fight for my daughter. One last question, Can I hire a lawyer in Bangladesh to work on my behalf instead of me going there? Do I need to get attestation from Bangladesh High Commision in Canada (let's say for power of attorney) so that my lawyer in Bangladesh could start my case and fight for the custody of my child?
I know this is long. My family and I are in a very tough situation right now. Please advice asap.
Thanks,
Khondakar
1 Answer from Attorneys
Dear Mr. Khondakar,
Having gone through the facts I am of the opinion that you have a good case to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against all your grievances and most importantly for the custody of your daughter.
It is better if you can come to Bangladesh and file the Suit(s). But if it is not possible, you can also empower someone through Power of Attorney duly attested by the High Commission Bangladesh in Canada and re-validated by the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh and the concerned DC Office.
Should you have any further queries please do not feel hesitate to contact.
Thank you.
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