French diplomat rape case: Bail plea adjourned till 26 July

The bail plea of French national Pascal Mazurier has been adjourned to 26 July by a court in Bangalore. Mazurier, deputy Head of Chancery in the Consulate of France, was arrested on 19 June on a complaint by his wife Suja Jones Mazurier, a native of Kerala, alleging that he had raped their four-year-old daughter. The issue led to a public outrage before the diplomat was arrested. A magisterial court on 3 July had extended by 14 days the judicial custody of Pascal. His bail petition has been adjourned to 9 July by a fast track court after police filed objections to the plea. The ongoing bail hearing was adjourned after it emerged that DNA tests on the child had turned out to be “inconclusive”. [caption id=“attachment_378304” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mauzurier was arrested in June: PTI[/caption] “The investigating officer in the case has already been directed to seek clarifications about the report as some test results are negative while others are positive. The Forensic Science Laboratory report appears inconclusive,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) T Suneel Kumar told PTI. However, senior advocate Pramila Nesargi, counsel for Pascal’s wife, Suja Jones on the basis of whose complaint he was arrested, charged police with trying to cover up the case. “They can send it back to FSL for clarifications if they want, but it really looks as if police is trying to cover up the case. Prima facie proof is in the Baptist Hospital where the child was first taken”, she said. Nesargi alleged that when Pascal was taken to Bowring Hospital, the necessary samples were not taken in their presence. She also charged police with giving the child’s clothes for the test three days after the incident after they had been washed. With inputs from agencies