A 39-year-old French national, working as the Chief of Joint Chancellerie at the French consulate in the city, has been accused of raping his three-year-and-nine-month-old daughter. His Indian origin wife has filed a complaint in this connection with the High Grounds police.

The accused has been identified as Pascal Mazurier, a resident of Pine View Apartment on Edward Road in Vasanthnagar.

On a complaint by his wife Suja Jones Mazurier (37), High Grounds police sent him for medical tests and have kept him under observation.

Suja is a native of Ernakulam in Kerala and the couple got married in October 2001 at Port Saint Marie in France and have three children, who are French citizens.

In her complaint, Suja said that when she was pregnant with her third child in 2010, the victim, who was two-years-old then, would complain of pain. When she would question her husband, he brushed it off saying that the girl could have hurt herself while playing on a slide.

After Suja delivered their third child, she noticed that one day, while her daughter was sleeping, her husband picked her up and took her somewhere. Later, the child complained that she did not want to go with him and get hurt, she stated.

In the last week of May this year, the girl again complained of pain. After questioning her daughter, she suspected that her husband was abusing her sexually.

A victim of domestic violence, Suja used to go for counseling to an organisation called Parivartan, where she informed them about her suspicion.

She was then referred to an organisation called Enfold Trust after which she got to know through the preliminary reports that her daughter was being sexually and physically abused by her husband, she stated.

On Wednesday, around 1.30 pm, her husband came home for lunch. At that time, she had to go and collect the report from Enfold Trust and left her younger son and daughter with a baby-sitter, Gita Suresh Kumar.

When she returned home around 5 pm, Gita told her that as soon as she left, her husband took the daughter to one of the bedrooms and shut the door and came out around 3.15 pm and left for work immediately.

Suja examined her daughter and took the child to Baptist Hospital where a pediatrician and a gynecologist felt that the girl had been raped, Suja stated.

Suja then approached the High Grounds police on Thursday who have registered a case and are investigating.

‘Accused must support family’

Soon after news of a French consulate employee raping his three-year-nine-month -old daughter broke out, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights sprung into action.

The commission members held a meeting with Mr Vincent Caumontat, Deputy Consul, Head of Chancery, Consulate General of France in Bengaluru, on Friday afternoon in the presence of a lawyer for the child’s mother.

“We are focusing on the protection of the child. During our meeting with the consulate official, we discussed issues related to building a robust psycho-social support system for the child.

“We discussed issues related to financial support for the child by her father and matters related to her safe being,” said Nina P. Nayak, commission chairperson.

Sources said the couple put all their earnings in a single joint account and he child’s father transferred all the unused money into a French account.

Now that the couple will be separated, the mother needs financial protection for her child from the father, the sources said.

The French consulate official said it was the first time they came across such a case. He assured the commission that he will get back after discussing the issue with other officials.

He offered to help if the child’s mother required any immediate monetary support which the mother declined.

The discussion took place in the presence of the mother’s lawyer as the mother is the complainant in the case, the sources said.