Agencies/Bangalore
A French official accused of sexually assaulting his three-year daughter was arrested in Bangalore yesterday, police said.
The 39-year-old Pascal Mazurier, a consular agent, appeared in court later in the day on charges of rape, senior police officer T Sunil Kumar said.
Mazurier was questioned by police on Friday after his Indian wife alleged that he sexually abused their daughter.
The arrest was made after the external affairs ministry clarified on Monday night that the official did not have diplomatic immunity, Kumar said.
“He is not a diplomat, he is an official attached to the consulate general’s office. He will be tried under Indian law,” he said.
“We got clearance from the external affairs ministry and the union home ministry from New Delhi late Monday for arresting Mazurier. We will seek his custody for interrogating him as part of our investigation into the case,” Kumar added.
The wife wrote to the government and the French ambassador to India requesting that her husband be prevented from leaving the country until all legal proceedings are completed.
Suja Jones, a Keralite, also asked the embassy for financial and legal assistance for herself and her three children, who are French citizens.
Activists and local residents demonstrated outside the consulate on Monday demanding the arrest of the official. The French mission later issued a statement saying it would fully co-operate with the police investigation.
The French embassy in New Delhi confirmed that the man was an employee at the Bangalore consulate and said it could not comment on the case while an investigation is under way. It said international law does not provide for immunity for acts committed outside the exercise of consular duties.
“The official has a service passport and does not have diplomatic immunity. He is a French national employed in our consulate general in Bangalore,” an embassy spokesman said.
In Paris, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero declined to identify the man but said he was primarily involved in administrative work at the consulate.
“We have to let police and the justice system do their job,” Valero said. “We have to wait for the results of the investigation.”
The rape charge came to light when Jones approached Enfold India, a non-government organisation (NGO) for counselling as she was going through a trauma of being a witness to her husband abusing their child over the weeks.
As part of the investigation, police sent the minor to a state-run hospital for examination and a medical report to substantiate the charge against Mazurier.
The couple got married over a decade ago at Port Saint Marie in France and have three children, including two sons, aged seven and 20 months.
On being posted in the consulate, Mazurier moved to Bangalore from France in 2008. He is the deputy head of chancery in the consular section of the French consulate in Bangalore.
Suja also accused her husband of committing domestic violence against her.
