A 66-year-old French cardiologist is being held in Puducherry of southern India. The humanitarian arrested in February is suspected of sexually abusing of three sisters aged 6 to 12 years.
A French humanitarian suspected of sexual abuse of minors is incarcerated in Puducherry (southern India ) where he was arrested last month.
The 66-year-old cardiologist, head of registered charities in France, was arrested in early February following a report to the local Child Welfare Committee, told AFP Vidyaa Ramkumar, president of the child protection service.
He is accused by the investigators of sexually abusing three sisters, aged 12 to 6, of an Indian family. He had taken them under his wing for several years and they lived with him in a pension as special children where intervenes its organization, added Mrs Ramkumar, at the origin of the complaint and civil part in this file.
He faces 5 to 7 years in Prison
The French national is currently in custody. The authorities suspect him of sexual touching with aggravating circumstances, told AFP Rachna Singh, a police chief of Puducherry. This charge is punishable under Indian law from five to seven years in prison.
Joined by AFP, the French Embassy in New Delhi simply confirmed the arrest of one of its citizens in the former French colony, without giving further details. “We are in contact with his lawyer and regularly visit him for consular protection , ” said the diplomatic representation.
The suspect is the founder of associations that offer paid humanitarian missions to volunteers in Cambodia, India, Benin or Madagascar.
