The Karnataka high court on Wednesday morning has granted bail to French diplomat Pascal Mazurier, who was arrested for allegedly raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Single bench judge justice HN Nagamohan Das, who reserved the order after hearing arguments of the counsels of both accused and victim’s mother, has ordered bail for the accused Pascal.

After the lower court rejected his bail plea, Pascal had applied for bail in the high court. Pascal was arrested by High Grounds police of Bangalore Central division on June 19 on charges of raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, following a complaint by his wife Suja Jones Mazurier, a native of Kerala.

On July 27, the Fast Track Court-I had rejected his bail plea observing that "though DNA test has not tallied with the DNA profile of the accused, bail cannot be granted to him only on this ground."

Pascal’s Counsel Nagesh had argued that though a hospital medical report indicated that the accused had committed the crime, the DNA report exonerated him. He quoted the Delhi high court’s recent order where in the DNA test on ND Tiwari was considered as a base to prove his biological fatherhood of a 32-year-old youth, he said in Pascal’s case too the DNA should be treated as a proof to explore the truth.

Pascal Mazuirier, working as Chief of the Joint Chancellory in the French Consulate - Palace grounds Bangalore, was married to an Indian woman Suja Jones with whom he has two sons and a daughter. The complaint filed by Suja before the police states that she had a doubt regarding the intentions of her husband towards her child.

The mother of the child had filed a complaint and the case has been registered under section IPC 376 and 354 against the French national.

On June 13 she had asked her maid to keep a watch on her husband when he came back home for lunch. The maid is said to have told her that he had spent nearly two hours with the 3 year old girl in a locked room. Suja later took her daughter to the Baptist hospital for examination where it had been found that there was an attempted rape.