The Pascal Mazurier case took a curious turn on Thursday with a controversial video of him with the victim – his four-year-old daughter, who he had allegedly raped – reportedly surfacing mysteriously. Mazurier was arrested on June 19 under IPC Section 376 after his wife Suja Jones lodged a complaint on June 14 at the High Grounds police station.
While Ms Jones shot off a mail to media persons requesting them not to use or upload the contents of the video as the case is sub-judice and any such act would be an “infringement of the law”, her counsel and prosecution lawyer Pramila Nesargi told this newspaper that she gave the video to some of the media persons, who were present in the court where Mr Mazurier’s bail petition was being heard today, after they asked her for it. “We had submitted the video 10 days ago to the police as evidence of the behaviour of the accused towards his minor daughter even when she was one-and-a-half-years old. Today, when I was coming out of the court, some media persons asked me for the video and I handed them copies of the same,” said Ms Nesargi.
The video reportedly has obnoxious content and was shot by a “third person” at a swimming pool in the city more than two years ago. “The video proves the kind of person he (Pascal) is,” said Ms Nesargi. The case, which made national and international headlines, is among the very few related to alleged incest (rape of daughter by her father) to be registered and prosecuted by the enforcement agencies in the country in recent years. But surprisingly, after submitting the interim chargesheet on September 17, police have decided to collect some more evidence and have yet again requested for fresh blood sample of the victim after the DNA tests proved “inconclusive.”
“They have asked for the victim’s blood sample again,” said Ms Nesargi. The DNA tests of the victim conducted at the Bangalore Baptist Hospital on June 13 after the alleged rape reportedly did not contain her DNA and the body swabs had not trace of semen. The stains on the bed linen and garments, however, contained semen stains, which matched the DNA of Mr Mazurier. Three days later, on June 16, the victim was made to undergo a second medical examination at Bowring Hospital and the accused was also made to give his blood sample for DNA profiling.
Alleging foul play, Ms Nesargi said the DNA tests were “flawed”. “The DNA laboratory in Bengaluru is headless and the tests have not been done properly. I am sure that the actual DNA profile of the child has not been done at all. I will request the police to send the blood samples to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad,” she added.