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)”.

Don’t want to trigger a row: Top cop

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that Pascal Mezurier, an official in the French Consulate General here, did not enjoy any immunity as he holds only a service passport and not a diplomatic one, but the Bengaluru police maintained that they had not received any word from the Union ministry.

T. Suneel Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), said they were waiting for confirmation from the MEA.

“We have given an official application to the government and waiting for the reply. Through media reports in New Delhi we have learnt that the Consulate-General of France has said that Mezurier does not hold any diplomatic immunity. But we are yet to receive it. We are waiting for a written confirmation to go ahead and arrest him formally.

"If we act on media reports, it will turn complicated as diplomatic issues between the two countries are involved. We do not want to rush into any action. Mezurier holds two passports of which one is official and the other personal. The question over his diplomatic immunity has to be answered by the French government through the MEA," he said.

Suneel Kumar said that there is no chance of Mezurier fleeing the country.

“All precautionary measures have been taken to make sure that he stays in the city. Once we get the confirmation from the MEA, he would be arrested immediately and subjected to further medical tests. He will also be made to give swabs for DNA tests which is mandatory in an incest case. If any diplomatic official is on a personal visit, he/she will use a blue passport. Diplomatic passports are identified usually by their red colour.

Even with diplomatic passport, the entitlement is confirmed by respective countries, a senior police official said.

“Mezurier holds two passports. But we are not sure whether he caries the diplomatic immunity status," the officer said.