Wife accuses French diplomat in India of raping their 3-year-old daughter
Indian activists from, Campaign Against Child Labour, hold posters and shout slogans from a police bus after being detained during a demonstration demanding the arrest of the deputy head of the Chancery for the French consulate Pascal Mazurier in Bangalore on June 18, 2012. Indian police in the southern IT hub of Bangalore arrested Mazurier at the local consulate on June 19, on charges of sexually abusing his three-year-old daughter. The allegations against Mazurier were initially made by his wife Suja Jones, who is of Indian origin.
The wife of a French official in India accused her husband of repeatedly raping their three-year-old daughter, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Times of India identifies the accused French consulate official as Pascal Mazurier. Mazurier's wife, who is an Indian national, reported the case with the help of an NGO in Bangalore. She said she learned of the alleged rape from the family maid, the Times of India reported.
The wife had been worried that her husband's official job would grant him diplomatic immunity, which would mean that he wouldn't have to go on trial in India. “We want him to be tried in India,” the wife's attorney said, according to the WSJ.
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In response to the allegations, protesters gathered outside the French consulate Monday in Bangalore, demanding that the accused husband be arrested, BBC News reported.
Today, the protesters got their wish. Bangalore Police Commissioner Jyothi Prakash Mirji announced that Mazurier was arrested today and taken in for medical tests, the Associated Press reported. He is also scheduled to appear in court later today, and a judge is expected to order that he remain in detention while police investigate the allegations.
The French Consulate-General in Bangalore issued a press release saying it would cooperate with the investigation. "A complaint had been lodged regarding the rape of a minor girl who is a French national," the release said, according to the BBC. "The complaint names the father of the child, who is a consular agent of this Consulate-General. An investigation is under way for which this Consulate-General is extending its full cooperation with the police and the authorities in charge."
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