French official acquitted of raping daughter in Bengaluru

A Sessions Court on Wednesday acquitted French Consulate official Pascal Mazurier of raping his minor daughter in 2012, citing lack of evidence.

"There is not enough evidence to prove that the accused (Mazurier) had committed the crime. He is innocent as even the DNA test was negative," said Special Court Judge B.S. Rekha, acquitting the French official of the offence.

Mazurier, 44, and his estranged wife Suja Jones, 42, who accused him of sexually abusing their three-year-old child, were present in the court when Judge Rekha read the operative part of the judgement.

"I am happy that justice has been done to me though it has been a long battle," Mazurier told reporters outside the court later.

Jones, who hails from Kerala, however, said she would move the Karnataka High Court against the judgement for securing justice to her daughter.

On a complaint by Jones, police filed an FIR (First Information Report) under Sections 376 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Mazurier on June 15, 2012 for alleged sexual assault and sodomy on the victim.

Following his arrest on June 19, 2012, the French Consulate suspended Mazurier as deputy head of its chancery here.

Mazurier secured bail from the Karnataka High Court on October 12, 2012 for his release from the jail four months later, while the criminal case was pending in the lower court for trial.

The Special Court for child rights had framed charges against Mazurier on February 11, 2014 for abusing the victim at home in June 2012.

The estranged couple were married in France in 2001 and have three children -- two sons and a daughter. The family moved to Bengaluru in 2008 and was staying in an apartment in the city's central suburb.

--IANS

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