Special Court frames rape charge against Pascal Mazurier

The Special Court for Child’s Rights on Monday framed charges against Pascal Mazurier, an employee of French Ministry’s diplomatic service, for allegedly raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. The matter has been posted to February 15 to fix the date for trial.

The court on January 7 refused to discharge Mazurier from the case stating that there was enough evidence against him for trial. He has been charged under Section 376 IPC (rape).

Mazurier had filed an application contending that the investigation conducted till now did not prove his involvement in the offence alleged against him. He had claimed that the circumstantial evidence did not clearly point out that he indulged in the act. 

Special Public Prosecutor B T Venkatesh contended that the involvement of the accused could be proved during the course of the trial. He had sought to charge the accused under Section 377 (unnatural offences) since “there was enough ground to prove that the child was sodomised.”

However, the counsel for Mazurier claimed that the accused was innocent since the results of the DNA tests were negative. But the SPP doubted the credibility of the test itself.Mazurier’s wife Suja Jones Mazurier filed a complaint, accusing her husband of raping his daughter which led to his arrest on June 19, 2012.