Bangalore: French diplomat's mother seeks right to see his kids

Bangalore: French diplomat Pascal Mazurier, who is on bail in a sexual abuse case, has petitioned the family court in Bangalore to allow his mother Jacqueline Maille visitation rights to meet his three children staying with his estranged Indian wife Suja Jones. “We have petitioned the city family court 12 July for visitation rights to Mazurier’s mother to meet his three children – two sons and a daughter – as he is not allowed to meet them by their mother,” Mazurier’s counsel PB Appaiah told IANS in Bangalore. [caption id=“attachment_876409” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  French diplomat Pascal Mazurier. IBNLive[/caption] The family court has posted the case for hearing on 19 July. Jones also filed an application in the family court seeking suspension of Mazurier’s parental authority on their children, sons aged eight and two years and a daughter aged four years. As an accused in such a criminal case is not permitted by law to meet his kin, the 62-year-old Maille came to Bangalore from France in March on a six-month visa to meet her grandchildren. “We hope the court will consider our petition favourably as Maille is very keen to meet her grand kids, as Mazurier is worried about their welfare since he had not been allowed to meet them over a year,” Appaiah said. Mazurier, 40, was arrested June 19, 2012 after police registered a case against him June 15, under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint by Jones accusing him of abusing their four-year-old daughter and alleging domestic violence against her. The Karnataka High Court, however, granted him bail in Oct 12, 2012 while the criminal case against him is pending in the district sessions court for trial. Mazurier’s French lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur regretted that the allegations had damaged the reputation of his client and affected his career beyond repair as a respected member of the French diplomatic corps. “Though Mazurier was released on bail after the high court found that ‘he was prima facie innocent’, he has no news from his children for a year. What’s more, he did not have a chance to visit them, see them and was not even allowed to talk to them on phone even for a minute,” Sur told IANS on Sunday, which was celebrated as ‘Father’s Day’. Sur called all concerned to respect the link between a father and his children, a link that is far superior to the course of legal proceedings. An elected president of the Paris Bar Association, Sur is in Bangalore with his associate Clemence Witt to support Mazurier and his Indian lawyers Mahesh and Appaiah in the case. IANS