French official chargesheeted for minor daughter’s rape

Accused of sexually assaulting his four-year-old daughter, French consulate official in Bangalore, Pascal Mazurier, was charge sheeted on Saturday for the alleged crime even as high court on Monday adjourned his bail plea hearing on being informed about the Frenchman being charge sheeted.

Mazurier, a deputy head of chancery in the Consulate of France in Bangalore, was arrested on June 19 following a complaint filed by his wife Suha Jones Mazurier, a native of Kerala, with the High Grounds police alleging that he had raped their daughter.

As part of the investigations, Mazurier’s and his daughter’s blood and DNA samples were taken and submitted to the forensic science laboratory (FSL). Interestingly, the FSL report showed that the samples did not tally.

The fast-track court had rejected Mazurier’s bail application on July 27 stating that although the DNA samples of the accused and the victim had not tallied, that could not be considered as ground for granting bail to the accused.

Mazurier, then petitioned the high court on August 7. But the high court adjourned the hearing on Monday to September 21 on being informed by the police that he had been charge sheeted.

Justice HN Nagamohan Das adjourned further hearing to that date after police submitted the chargesheet to the court.
In his petition, Mazurier he had appealed for bail as the FSL report suggested that the two DNA samples did not tally.