No entry: French consulate ‘rapist’ refuge
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With both the French and Indian governments clarifying that the French diplomat accused of raping his three year old daughter carries a service, not a diplomatic passport, Pascal Mazurier faces arrest, after the French government formally indicated it will allow Mr Mazurier to face prosecution here.
Except, a piquant situation appears to have developed around the French diplomat posted in Bengaluru. While French government sources have indicated that the law of the land can take its course and that since the official does not enjoy diplomatic immunity, the local police were free to arrest him, the French national cannot be reached after the first day when he was subjected to medical tests, as he has remained holed up within the French consulate general which falls under the diplomatic zone.
As the diplomat is presently within the premises of the French consulate, the Union home ministry has now directed Karnataka Police to approach the French consul general in Bengaluru to gain access to him, sources said. Following a complaint by his wife Suja Jones, the local police had registered a case of rape against the diplomat, a deputy head of chancery in the French consulate in Bengaluru under Section 376 of the IPC on Thursday.
The French foreign ministry statement drew attention to The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963) noting that it “does not provide for immunity of jurisdiction for acts committed outside the exercise of consular duties (Article 43)”
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