HC notice on Pascal’s plea for visitation rights to his mother to see his children

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered issue of notice to Suja Jones Mazurier on a petition filed by her husband Pascal Mazurier, Consular Attaché to the Consulate General of France, Bangalore, and accused in a case of raping his minor daughter.

Justice A.S. Bopanna passed the order on Mr. Pascal’s petition, in which he has challenged the Family Court’s order refusing to allow his mother, who had come from France, to periodically meet his three children, who are in the custody of his wife.

IN the petition he also said his wife had violated an order of the Family Court to bring the children to the Bangalore Mediation Centre between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on July 24 to for meeting his mother, and children’s grandmother, Jacqueline Maillé. The Family Court had only twice permitted Jacqueline Maillé to meet the children since February 2013 and that too only for an hour on each occasion.

“The Family Court ought to have permitted the petitioner’s [Pascal’s] mother to have constant periodical contact with her grandchildren so that some member of the petitioner’s family can be in touch with the children,” it has been contended in the petition.

In matters relating to the guardianship and custody of minor children, especially of those children who have multi-cultural and multi-national identities, the Family Court ought to bear in mind the various provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which came into force in September 1990 and to which India is a signatory, the petitioner claimed.

The petition further stated: “The children are completely cut off from their paternal relations and this is not in the interest of their emotional and psychological welfare and wellbeing as the petitioner was always close to the children during the time he lived in the marital home…” It has been alleged in the petition that his wife was depriving the children of contact with his family members.

Mr.Mazurier was arrested in June 2012 on the complaint filed by his wife, and the High Court in October 2012 had granted him bail while observing that “the materials on record, including the DNA report, and the statements of witnesses at this stage are in favour of the accused [Pascal]”. 

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