My daughter-in-law should not have gone to cops: French diplomat's father

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Though Suja Jones Mazurier, wife of the French official Pascal Mazurier who was arrested for allegedly raping his minor daughter, has the support of her parents, her in-laws in France have turned a cold shoulder.

Her father-in-law, a Frenchmen in an e-mail, allegedly pulled her up for making the case public and told her that she should have confronted Pascal and not gone to the police.

Suja Mazurier, who is undergoing counselling along with her daughter at NIMHANS, and is in touch with the French consulate regarding the custody of her children, is putting up a brave front.

“I am much better now and so is my daughter. But for the media support, he (Pascal) would not have been arrested. I am very thankful to the media,” she told Deccan Chronicle.

She has gone back to her apartment with her children under police protection. Ms Mazurier has been flooded with mails and messages from across the world expressing concern for her and her children, especially her daughter, who has reportedly been sexually abused by her father for the last one-and-a-half years.

“Her paediatrician had suspected sexual abuse one-and-a-half years ago. And once when Suja pointed out the rashes on the child, the father said that they were nappy rash. On June 5, when Suja took her to the voluntary organisation Enfold India, the child enacted what her dad used to do.

"On June 13, he raped her, which was confirmed by the Baptist Hospital, based on which we lodged a police complaint against Pascal under Section 376 IPC for rape,” said a source.

‘Rapist’ father faces public anger, slapped

Pascal Mazurier, who was brought to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bengaluru for medical tests after his arrest, got a taste of public anger when a bystander managed to slap him while others tried to pull off the cloth he had used to cover his face. All this happened right in the presence of police personnel who were escorting him.

The High Grounds police have registered a rape case against Mazurier, the chief of Joint Chancellerie at the French consulate here, based on a complaint filed by his wife Suja Jones Mazurier (37), a native of Ernakulam in Kerala, on June 14.

On Tuesday, a team of officials from the French consulate met city police commissioner Jyothiprakash Mirji at his office and extended full co-operation to the police investigation.

Mirji told the media that the Union government had clarified on Monday night that Mazurier did not enjoy diplomatic immunity, paving the way for his arrest.From the hospital, he was taken to the High Grounds police station to record his statement.

“We are waiting for the reports from the doctors. Pascal has confessed about certain details which cannot be disclosed,” the commissioner added.

Suja Jones Mazurier had registered a formal complaint on June 14 with the High Grounds police station accusing her 39-year-old husband of raping their three-year-and-nine-month-old daughter.

She had also sent a requisition through her advocate to Union Home minister P. Chidambaram and External Affairs minister S. M. Krishna, requesting that her husband be restrained from leaving the country till legal proceedings are completed and that under no circumstances should he be allowed custody of their children, who are also French nationals.

She also wanted the French Embassy to be directed to help her with legal and financial assistance, as she was currently unemployed and has to take care of the children.