Karnataka police have arrested a French citizen who has been accused of raping his three-year old daughter.
Pascal Mazurier, Deputy Head of Chancery of the French Consulate in Bangalore, is now in custody following a complaint filed by his wife, Suja Jones, accusing Mazurier of raping their daughter.
Jones, a Keralite, learned of her husband's misdemeanor from the family maid who informed her that Mazurier raped her daughter. With aid from an NGO in the city, Jones immediately registered a case with the police and has placed an appeal for Mazurier to be tried in the country itself.
"I have been extremely traumatised by the incident and all the procedures that are followed. I am also very upset by the insensitivity of the authorities concerned," Jones said according to Press Trust of India.
The news agency reported that Jones has even requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to look into the issue.
Earlier, Indian authorities failed to gain entry into the French Consulate where Mazurier was kept under custody. Police were concerned about taking action against the diplomat since it wasn't clear if he enjoyed any immunity.
Later on, French government officials gave the go-ahead for his arrest after saying that Mazurier currently holds a regular service passport instead of a diplomatic one and could hence be certainly prosecuted in an Indian court. Mazurier will soon be undergoing a medical examination, the results of which will help determine his charges in court.
Meanwhile, the incident has caused uproar among NGOs in the city seeking justice for the victim. On Monday, hoards of activists stood outside the French Consulate and demanded Mazurier's arrest.
"The children now need to be taken care of...the mother has gone through some counselling. But we demand from the French government that they provide financial assistance throughout to the family," Nina Nayak, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said according the NDTV.
